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There is no shortage of kosher restaurants serving Pan-Asian food these days. What is a little harder to find is one that doesn\u2019t require you to dress up, empty your wallet or convince yourself that a $20 appetizer is somehow a reasonable thing to order. Yuzu: Modern Asian Kitchen in Brooklyn takes a more casual approach. It offers the familiar experience of a waiter-service Chinese restaurant, with plenty of the dishes you would expect to find on a Chinese menu, but then expands well beyond that with sushi, Japanese dishes, Korean specialties and more. The result is a restaurant that feels laid back without making you feel like you sacrificed quality to get there.<\/p>\n
That distinction is more significant than it might sound. Some of the kosher restaurants with similar Pan-Asian menus are designed as upscale destinations, where the food is certainly the star but the overall experience is more of an occasion. Yuzu is a place where you can simply go out for Chinese food. You can order fried rice for the table, get some dumplings, have a plate of crispy beef and, because this is 2026 and apparently we are no longer required to choose one Asian cuisine per meal, throw in some sushi and Korean fried chicken as well. It makes Yuzu particularly well suited to groups, where everyone seems to have a different idea of what constitutes dinner.<\/p>\n
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Yamato roll<\/p>\n
When I was invited to Yuzu, I naturally started with sushi, and the Yamato Roll gave me plenty of reasons to keep going. It combines spicy salmon and spicy kani with lemon and crunch inside, while the outside has black pepper tuna, avocado, spicy mayo and sweet sauce. There are quite a few competing flavors in that description, but they actually work together very well. The spicy components give the roll some heat, while the avocado and sweet sauce provide just enough sweetness and creaminess to balance it out. It is the kind of sushi that gives you a little bit of everything in each bite, which is exactly what I want when I am ordering a roll with a name that sounds like it belongs in a Japanese history textbook. (Fun Fact: Yamato is the ancient traditional name for Japan.)<\/p>\n
The Hand Folded Wagyu Dumplings are another dish where a small decision makes a big difference. They can be ordered either pan-seared or steamed, and you absolutely want the pan-seared version. The exterior gets a nice crispness, while the Wagyu filling stays juicy and flavorful. But don\u2019t make the mistake of simply popping the whole dumpling into your mouth. Cut it in half and dip it into the garlic scallion sauce, allowing the sauce to get inside the dumpling. This isn\u2019t a case where the dipping sauce is optional. The sauce, garlic, scallion and Wagyu come together beautifully and you\u2019ll be wishing you had more of these dumplings.<\/p>\n
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Szechuan crispy beef<\/p>\n
The Crispy Rice Salad takes what could otherwise be a fairly standard Asian salad and gives it something I always appreciate: texture. Romaine, cucumber, edamame, avocado, mint and cilantro are tossed with a soy-lime dressing, creating a fresh and flavorful salad on their own. But then crispy rice is sprinkled throughout, adding little bursts of crunch as you eat. It is a simple addition, but one that makes the dish much more interesting. There is a reason restaurants keep finding ways to put crispy rice into things. Apparently, vegetables become considerably more exciting when you give them something to crunch on.<\/p>\n
For the table, I would order the Japanese Fried Rice, and I would definitely add beef. The rice comes with egg, scallions, snow peas, red onions, carrots and bean sprouts, and there is something particularly satisfying about a fresh plate of fried rice arriving at the table rather than the stuff that has been sitting around waiting for someone to order it. It is savory, full of vegetables and has enough going on to make it a worthwhile side even before you add the beef. Once you do, it becomes considerably more substantial and is an easy dish for the whole table to share.<\/p>\n
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Pan seared hand folded Wagyu dumplings<\/p>\n
The Korean Fried Chicken Sandwich is where Yuzu starts moving pretty far beyond what you might expect from your neighborhood Chinese restaurant. The flash-fried chicken has an excellent crunch and is coated with a gochujang glaze, while purple cabbage slaw and the brioche bun provide the contrast. The combination of spicy chicken and tangy slaw is particularly good. The slaw cuts through the richness of the fried chicken while adding its own acidity and crunch. It is one of those sandwiches where the sound you hear when you bite into the chicken is almost as important as the flavor.<\/p>\n
I was also pleasantly surprised by the Jersey Maple Salmon, largely because salmon isn\u2019t normally something I get particularly excited about. Here, however, the combination of ingredients completely changed my mind. The salmon comes with a sweet chili maple glaze, vegetables and green onions, but the fried sushi rice patty underneath is what really makes the dish work. Getting a piece of the crispy rice together with the salmon, vegetables and glaze creates a combination of textures and flavors that is considerably better than any of the components would be by themselves. Even someone who isn\u2019t a particularly enthusiastic salmon person can appreciate what is happening here.<\/p>\n
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Korean fried chicken sandwich<\/p>\n
If you want to stick with one of the more traditional Chinese dishes, my choice would be the Szechuan Crispy Beef. The beef has the crisp exterior you want from this kind of dish and is tossed with honey chili and Sichuan pepper. There is enough spice to make things interesting, but it doesn\u2019t get to the point where the heat takes over the entire dish. More importantly, the texture holds up, so you get that satisfying contrast between crispy beef and the flavorful sauce. Yuzu has plenty of Chinese classics on the menu, but if I had to pick just one to represent that side of the restaurant, this would be it.<\/p>\n
And that is ultimately what makes Yuzu work. You can come here looking for the comforting familiarity of Chinese food and find it, but you don\u2019t have to stop there. A group can start with sushi, share Wagyu dumplings and fried rice, order crispy beef and then somehow end up arguing over who gets the last piece of the Korean fried chicken sandwich. It is casual enough that you don\u2019t need an excuse to come, but the food is good enough that you don\u2019t need one anyway.<\/p>\n
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Jersey maple salmon<\/p>\n
For kosher diners who like Asian food, Yuzu occupies a particularly useful spot. It doesn\u2019t try to turn every meal into a fine-dining event, but it also doesn\u2019t treat \u201ccasual\u201d as an excuse to cut corners. The menu is broad, the atmosphere is relaxed and there is enough variety to keep a group happy even when everyone\u2019s definition of Asian food is slightly different. Sometimes you just want good Chinese food without making a production out of it. Yuzu understands that\u2014and then gives you sushi anyway.<\/p>\n
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Japanese fried rice with beef<\/p>\n
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Crispy rice salad<\/p>\n