This year’s warm winter gave us an early harvest of Hana Sansho, or flower pepper. There is only a very short window to pick the buds before the flowers open. Hana Sansho, used plentifully and generously, is Wakuden’s spring speciality. You can enjoy it with filet and sirloin, a dish we will be offering until the end of May.

We will also be dishing up bamboo shoots grown in Kyoto’s Oharano, slowly grilling them over a charcoal fire for you. The bamboo shoots—called asahori, or ‘dug up early this morning’—come from a bamboo grove that has been carefully tended every day, without stint, for an entire year. Shirako bamboo shoots, which grow in clayish earth and are known for their creamy white color, are a rare and special spring ingredient—loaded with sweetness and only a touch of bitterness. Large ones are exceedingly hard to find. We will be serving shirako bamboo shoots at Wakuden from April to early May.