Hollywood: Yamashiro

I freaking love Groupon. Because of Groupon I get to have the chance to try out some top-notch or popular restaurants around LA, and when Groupon had a deal for Yamashiro, instantly jumped on the deal haha.

Yamashiro was built over 80 years ago as a private estate, and after so many years it was converted to a restaurant about 3 decades ago. Literally meaning "mountain palace," it sits on a hill overlooking Hollywood with an amazing city view and has a Japanese garden and with a pagoda that you can walk through. On certain days they even have a farmers market, which is pretty unique.

The restaurant itself is more famous for the romantic setting and the view it offers rather than the cuisine. Calling them CalAsian fusion is pretty fitting, and they do a pretty good job integrating the two.

Yamashiro

1999 N Sycamore Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90068

yamashirorestaurant.com

Menu.

Red wine sangria & a glass of Sapporro. Sangria had a lot of brandy haha.

Truffle Hamachi with truffle-ponzu and micro-arugula. I was hellaaa excited for this since it has two of my favorites, hamachi sashimi & truffle oil.

Fresh and you can see the truffle-ponzu oil glistening :]

The only real letdown of the whole dinner, Reclining Buddha Roll, with shrimp, chilies, cilantro, peanuts, cabbage wrapped with soy paper and a spicy ponzu sauce. It was spicy but the roll itself was pretty bland and the sauce too salty.

You can never go wrong with a Crunchy Roll :]

Darth Vader Roll with spicy tuna, tobiko (those black roe on top), cucumber, avocado, black rice & spicy mayo. Pretty much a more extravagant spicy tuna. I love the tobiko since they just keep on popping in your mouth.

Seared Rare Filet Mignon Carpaccio with micro-arugula salad, sesame, fried shallots, and a soy vinaigrette. I gotta say, fried shallots beats fried onions anyday!

Snow Crab & Spicy Tuna Napoleon. Comes with snow crab, spicy tuna, avocado slices (on the other side), fried wonton skins, more arugula, and a wasabi aioli. You kinda make your own little spread with everything.

Chocolate soufflé cake. I love soufflé so when I saw it had to order it haha.

The view :]

All in all, a good spot for a romantic date or if you feel like you want to overspend for fusion cuisine. I didn't order any entrees since I felt that I could get the most by ordering a bunch of little things out of the Groupon. Maybe in the future I'll try their Wagyu steak.