Japanese chef Hiroaki Karasawa returns to Nadaman restaurant in Beijing with a new menu of traditional Japanese cuisine after a 2-year gap.

The dishes on the new menu range from staples like fresh sashimi and grilled eel to the more avant-garde kaiseki set menus.

While fire dragon roll, a really spicy Japanese dish, suits the cold winter of Beijing, rolled foie gras with wagyu beef has a rich flavor as does the roasted beef salad at the restaurant.

Sundubu, a tofu soup, is where Hiroaki is inspired by Korean cuisine — the chef, with a 28-year culinary experience, says the warm soup goes well with other Japanese dishes.

Roasted beef on steamed rice and steamed truffle rice in pot are both good choice as staples, with the rice being glutinous and the truffle adding a fragrance.

Nadaman traces its roots to Osaka in 1830, when founder Nadaya Mansuke opened his first restaurant, which later became the foundation for today's Nadaman chain.