Searching in vain for “Bonito Flakes” and Yakult at Nishiki Market

When my brother found out I was going to Japan for a few days (Thanks to Cebu Pac’s zero rate promo. Kyoto! Woohoo!), he asked me to bring home these particular food items – dried bonito flakes and Yakult.

Yakult, of course, is the fermented milk drink with a unique “good bacteria” ingredient called lactobacillus shirota strain which children of the 80s (my brother and I included) happily chugged down because it tasted so good.

Bonito flakes is a savory mixture of dried fish flakes, sesame seeds and nori bits which we usually sprinkle over steamed rice, noodle soup, or just about anything that needs to be seasoned. Umami to the highest level.

Umuwi akong luhaan. Yakult was nowhere to be found, even in Nishiki Market which is touted as Kyoto’s Kitchen because folks say practically everything and anything edible could be found there.

 

Nishiki Market - Kyoto's Kitchen

 

Is Yakult even a Japanese product at all? Or nagpauto lang ako sa Kuya ko?

Now about the other almost-pasalubong, I should have known it’s not really called “bonito flakes” in Kyoto. Shopkeepers at Nishiki Market scratched their heads trying to figure out what my “bonito flakes” meant.

As it turned out, post-Kyoto trip and post-Wikipedia search yielded this info: katsuobushi is the Japanese name for dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis, sometimes referred to as bonito).

I was looking for the “seasoning” variety in a handy little jar but it’s the same familiar fish shavings that are so thin they seem to dance when added as a topping to a hot dish. (Yup, freshly shaved bonito is also known as “dancing fish flakes”.)

The colorful food stalls  and the heady vibrancy and loudness of Nishiki Market were more than enough to make me forget about Yakult and bonito flakes as I walked the entire six blocks of the covered market.

freshly cooked rice flakes - Japanese-style chichiria

The warmth from the seafood grilling stations and hot pans of freshly made rice flakes of every shape and color imaginable was very comforting on an insufferably cold winter in Kyoto.

Charcoal-grilled fish (yakizakana) glazed with salty-sweet sauce is Japanese “street food” at its best.

one of the yakizakana / fish grilling stations

 

 

 

Spent 400yen for two juicy chunks of fish (eel) skewered on a bamboo stick and ate it on the spot there at Nishiki, fresh off the grill with the sauce dripping on my SLR camera. Nawala sa sarili. Hahah.

A few hundred yen for “street food” in Kyoto was money well spent because it was a filling meal after all. Filling, okay, but a little voice inside my head was still chanting “ka-nin! ka-nin!” as I downed the grilled eel.

Nishiki Market is located in a covered shopping arcade one block north of Shijo Street (Shijo Dori) and runs the length of Teramachi to Takakura Streets. It’s open from 10am to 6pm. From Kyoto Station, take Bus 5, 17, or 205 to Shijo Kawaramachi. Walk for about 5 min. to reach Nishiki. That’s according to Frommer’s Kyoto travel guide.

Or you could do it the way my travel buddy and I did it:  Walk all the way from Gion. Get lost along the way. Engage in people-watching at a bus station. Ogle at the fashionable coats, mini skirts and tights of Kyoto yuppies. Say “sumimasen” (excuse me) and ask for directions from friendly-looking Japanese. Get lost again. Walk. Walk. Walk…until you see the sign leading to the covered shopping arcade of Teramachi. Walk. Walk. Walk…until you notice the miniscule “Nishiki” sign. Welcome to Kyoto’s food heaven!