Information of Shops

Karikari hakase

This popular takoyaki shop has a line of people waiting in front of it anytime one passes by. Why are there so many couples? Perhaps it is because the young and cheerful staff makes it easy to enter the shop. That may be one reason, but it may also be because of the delicious and reasonable price (280 yen for one pack of takoyaki). The crunchy takoyaki live up to the shop’s name (“kari kari hakase” ≈ “Doctor Crunch”).

• Takoyaki

Uoriki

This shop has been specializing in grilled fish since 1919. The shop is filled with the delicious aroma of grilled fish. Their focus is sea bream and hamo (pike conger eel). They especially recommend the ornamented sea bream for celebrations, grilled hamo, and the hamo tempura and hamo katsu (hamo cutlet), which can be eaten right in the shop. For those who need it, they also ship the celebratory sea bream to other parts of the country.

• Grilled Fish

Torisei

Torisei has been selling chicken for about 110 years. The store is a long-established poultry specialty store whose popular items are duck breast and chicken thighs cut up in the morning. In the back of the store, you can always see the busy workers. It is said that a shop visited daily by many customers is able to keep its merchandise fresh and tasty, and this is truly the case at this thriving shop. Torisei is dedicated to morning-cut chicken and duck meat. They also wholesale this meat to restaurants and accept orders to ship it to other parts of the country.

• Poultry

Tanaka Keiran

Tanaka Keiran has been in business for 87 years, committed solely to making dashimaki omelets. When you take a bite of their dashimaki and chew it lightly, you can feel the delicious broth seeping out. The dashi stock and the egg create a deep flavor without using any chemical seasonings, additives, or sugar. And the way the omelet is made fluffy though having more dashi than usual is what one would call a professional's technique.

• Japanese Omelette

Miki Keiran

Founded in 1928, this store specializing in dashimaki omelets has been in business for more than 90 years. The copper, rectangular pans lined up in a row are much longer than those for home-use. The eggs and seasoned dashi stock are placed in the pan and rolled quickly from the front to the back over high heat, a technique that is truly the work of a skilled artisan. This method of cooking is called "kyomaki (Kyoto-style roll)," and is unique to Kyoto.

• Japanese Omelette

Yamamoto Banba

Yamamoto Banba specializes in fresh, live river fish. They use Nishiki's underground water to deliver river fish straight to restaurants while they are still swimming. They also focus on making prepared specialty dishes using river fish. Because they process and use live fish, the taste is very delicious. They sell these products, which are made with fresh river fish from Lake Biwa and specially seasoned, in their store and ship them to other parts of Japan.

• River Fish

Fuji Shokuhin

The owner says that he often has customers who come and say, "I have a craving for the food I had in the old days." The store is filled with items representative of Kyoto's food culture, such as dried cod and cooked herring. The owner, who values conversation with customers, says, "I want them to buy what they like and arrange them in their own way on dishes and bowls of their preference," and "I don't want them to buy too much."

• Prepared dishes, Tsukudani

Kuwatou

A lineup of freshly cooked food invites passersby. The charm of this restaurant is that you can enjoy grilled and deep-fried seafood skewers all year round. It is a perfect place for when you feel a little hungry. This is an eat-in and take-out establishment, so you can eat the freshly cooked food in the shop, or you can take it home to enjoy.

• Seafood Restaurant

Takenaga

Black soybean snacks and dried seafood products fill this shop. The common point is that they are good for health. The shop's recommended dried products in bags include sea bream, anago conger eel, wakame seaweed, seared sardines, and shrimp. The fruit sandwiches, an unexpected addition to this store's merchandise, come in many varieties, such as strawberry, papaya, fig, and grape.

• Salted dried fish

Watahan

Founded in 1897, this shop has a history of over 120 years. Counted from the first owner, Hanshichi Watanabe, the current owner is the fourth generation. The store began as a retailer of fresh fish and now focuses on the preparation, processing, and sales of seafood such as fugu (puffer fish), pike conger eel, and oysters. In addition to small packs of sashimi such as wild sea bream, kampachi (greater amberjack), and blood clams, oysters with shells and deep-fried fugu are also available.

• Fresh Fish