great cultural overview of Nishiki Market - We had a great time on the Nishiki Market tour - Chikako was a gracious host and gave us an overview of the history and culture behind all the delicious food. She encouraged us to be even more adventurous than we would typically be - baby octopus and eel livers were not something we would have tried on our own! highlights were the spice store, the curried buns and wagyu sushi. The tour was a great overview of the market; we also brought back quite a few yummy souvenirs to remind us of our time there!

Local guide makes a difference - My food tour at Nishiki Market with Taishi as our guide was a great experience. I would not be able to experience the authentic Japanese food without a local guide - there are many tourist traps there…He introduced us to dishes and ingredients I would have missed on my own, and his explanations brought the food to life. Taishi was kind, helpful, and ready to answer all questions. He was also attentive to our preferences and wishes. Many thanks for a nice experience, Taishi!

Fantastic experience - Chikako stepped in at the last minute to lead our lunch tour, and it was amazing! She is a local to the area and was very knowledgeable about the history of the market, sharing personal stories about her experiences and her family. We tried many, many different types of food and learned so much. This was one of the highlights of our trip to Kyoto because of Chika's expertise, kindness and humor! She followed up the tour with further Kyoto recommendations and a list of the foods we had tried at the different locations. I would highly recommend this tour, this company, and Chikako!

Can't miss food tour. - Definitely, one of our highlights for our stay in Kyoto. Chikako was a fantastic guide, gave us a mini-history lesson, knew the food origins well, and provided great recommendations all with a sense of humor and energy.

10/10 would do it all over again. - An amazing experience, and a rare chance to enjoy local food with a bit of history. I ate lots of delicious stuff I'd never usually think to try. Chika-san was amazing, fun, and incredibly helpful.

A Great Tour for Adventurous (or not!) Foodies and Tourists looking for an easy, tasty experience - We loved and would totally recommend our Nishiki Food Market tour with Chica! Chica was personable, friendly, and extremely knowledgable, giving us background on the market itself, the art inside, and a lot of cultural aspects inherent in the Japanese food culture. That, and she led us to a lot of new and delicious foods throughout the tour. I feel like this is a tour that is perfect for beginners, tourists, or those who are even a little shy about local interactions or approaching this bustling market. Chica handled our transactions for us but in such a way that we could observe how she interacted with the various shop owners and vendors at the market. It was good modeling etiquette-wise even though that wasn't the focus of the trip. Chica was also great about checking in with our comfort zone on various foods (e.g., I didn't want to try octopus) but was encouraging regarding trying new things (surprisingly tasty eel intestines come to mind). There were plenty of "safe" foods that we stopped by and tasted as well (like some of the juiciest chicken skewers I've ever had in my life). We are really grateful for our experience with Chica as she helped us get deeper into the market than we might have done on our own and she certainly shored up our comfort zone with regard to communicating and being culturally appropriate. We came back to the market again another day and felt pretty confident and informed.

Interested in trying market foods? Don't miss this tour! - We had a wonderful tour of the Nishiki Market with our guide, Chikako. She helped us understand the fascinating history of the market and smoothly lead us through this busy place. The four of us agreed we would never have tried so many different foods and learned so much without taking this tour. Chikako explained about all that we ate and pointed out other foods we might want to try later (we did go back to eat there). She even offered some suggestions for restaurants in Osaka. SO helpful! This market is a must see in Kyoto and don't miss out on a great tour!

Wonderful experience that's a delight for the palate - We were supposed to have a group tour, but ended up having a private one, which was amazing. Chica, our guide, is very knowledgeable about the market, its culture, its history, and its food. Since we know quite a lot about Asian/Japanese food, she went out of her way to let us try different things and new flavors. And she did a great job. We definitely had had a wonderful experience that was a delight for the palate.

Nishiki market tour - Excellent guide (Mana) and delicious food. Well organized. We’re able to taste a lot of foods we never would have discovered on our own and learn about the way the food is made. Highly recommend.

Great food tour at Kyoto Nishiki Market by Ninja Food tour - We had a great time to explore so many new items at the market today with our guide Mana. We had great conversations about food, Kyoto and brief history of the market. When she pointed out the lantern with the name of shop that we stopped by at the Nishiki Tenmangu shrine, it really clicked.