You don’t have to be an expert on Japanese cuisine to enjoy the details that Yamashiro puts into each of their dishes. But this guide is here to help you understand what to order this season. 

With over a hundred years of being in business, the famed restaurant has quite the business sense for innovation. With two menu changes a year and a persistent thirst for improvement, the Hollywood hotspot is thrilled to announce the new items it will be introducing this winter season. Yamashiro is keeping its most popular classics, including the Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice, the Charred Octopus, and the Chilean Sea Bass. However, it is excited to announce quite a few new menu items. Here are some of the most exciting: 

The Live Scallop 

These gorgeous half-shell scallops are cooked over a grill with flavorful compound butter, and topped with a yuzu kosho glaze. Yuzu Kosho is a fermented Japanese condiment that combines notes of citrus, florals, and chilis. The dish also comes with amasuzuke enoki, which are mushrooms pickled in sweet vinegar. The scallops sit in dashi ankake, which is a Japanese broth/sauce with a subtle flavor similar to miso. These elements combined offer a gentle balance of sweet, savory, and tangy flavors that pair wonderfully with the buttery flavor of the scallops.

Allergens: gluten, dairy, shellfish, mushrooms 

Crab Fried Rice 

A new take on Yamashiro’s traditional fried rice, this Crab Fried Rice is the comfort food of your dreams. With Jasmine rice, eggs, shallots, garlic, chili, scallions, and fish sauce, this delicious classic is truly taken to the next level here at Yamashiro. It also includes tamari, which is often seen as the Japanese version of soy sauce, as well as Shaoxing wine, a Chinese rice wine with a sweet and dry aftertaste. To top off the festivities, the dish, of course, has blue crab lump meat, which perfectly elevates the dish. 

Allergens: shellfish, egg; gluten-free 

Beef Ragu Udon

One of the more Italian-Japanese fusion dishes on the new menu, the beef ragu udon has red wine, beef ragu, and grana Padano. Ragu is a tomato-based sauce with meat and vegetables that are cooked until tender and flavorful. Grana Padano is a cheese from Northern Italy with a nutty and creamy taste. To add a Japanese touch to the dish, traditionally Italian pasta is substituted with udon, a thick flour-based noodle. 

Allergens: gluten, dairy, red wine 

Oden Hotpot

The Oden Hotpot is not just a dish: it’s an experience. This Japanese fish cake stew is brought in a hot pot to the guest, where the table can watch it cook. It comes with napa cabbage, egg, mushrooms, daikon, udon, sesame sauce, and ponzu. Ponzu is a citrus-based sauce with ingredients like soy sauce, rice vinegar, and ginger. The hotpot also comes with a few options for protein, including American Wagyu Zabuton, A5 Miyazaki Wagyu, and Lobster Tail. The incredibly tender Wagyu Zabuton, also known as the Denver steak, truly capitalizes on the marbling that wagyu is famous for, with zabuton actually meaning “little pillow” in Japanese. A5 Miyazaki beef is 100% fullblood Japanese wagyu with the highest quality grade of meat possible due to its marbling. Wagyu marbling contributes to its exceptional texture and tenderness. 

Allergens: egg, mushrooms, sesame sauce, fish 

Kamo Nanban Matcha Soba

This warm matcha soba is the perfect broth for those cold, dry Los Angeles winters. Kamo nanban is a Japanese noodle soup with either soba or udon (in this case, soba) with juicy, tender duck meat. Yamashiro’s soba is a noodle infused with matcha green tea, which may taste like green tea on its own, but it quickly absorbs the flavors of the broth/sauce that it is in. Yamashiro sources its 5-6 ounce duck breast from Mary’s Chicken, the first company in the industry to feed its animals a verified non-GMO diet. Mary’s Chicken also allows its animals to live their entire lives on pastured farms, earning a Step 5 Rating under the Global Animal Partnership’s Animal Welfare Rating Standards. Yamashiro then prepares the duck breast in thin slices, that are cooked medium rare, and served with spinach, scallions, and wasabi. 

Allergens: gluten