Japanese Omakase in The Netherlands
Eight seats. One chef. Japanese omakase, prepared around the fire.
Eight seats around chef Yama
Chef Yama belongs to the first generation of Japanese chefs who helped shape Japanese fine dining in the Netherlands.
At the age of twenty, he came from Japan to the Netherlands. At Yamazato at Hotel Okura Amsterdam, he spent eight years working under Chef Akira Oshima, the pioneer under whose leadership Yamazato became the first traditional Japanese restaurant in Europe to receive a Michelin star in 2002.
In 2013, Yama opened his own restaurant in Rotterdam. For ten years, he developed his own cuisine there, in which Japanese tradition and technique became increasingly shaped by his life and work in the Netherlands. In 2023, his cuisine was awarded a Michelin star.
Following the closure of Japanese Cuisine Yama, he moved to Naarden-Vesting in January 2026. At A5 YAMA, he once again cooks at a chef’s table, but now more personally than ever.
More than twenty years of living and working in the Netherlands have become part of what comes to the table. His Japanese cuisine remains the foundation, but his menu now tells a much larger story through the products he chooses, the people he has met along the way, the influences he has gathered, and the place he has come to call home.
Japan is the foundation. The Netherlands is his home.
And for those who stay at the table a little longer, there is more to discover hidden within the menu.
Hidden within a monumental building in Naarden-Vesting
In his house
Literally Chef Yama’s home, hidden within a monumental building in the heart of Naarden-Vesting (UNESCO).
From the street, there is no indication of what lies behind the façade. Inside, beneath the glass roof, Yama & Angela have created an intimate chef’s table with just eight seats.
Around the fire, you sit close to the chef. No grand dining room, no distance between the kitchen and the table. Just eight guests, the chef, and a kitchen unfolding right in front of you.
A place you could easily walk past without ever knowing what lies behind it.
Eight guests. One chef. 19 moments.
Chef Yama prepares the entire menu himself, for just eight guests seated at his chef’s table.
It consists of 19 moments, built from numerous individual preparations and details. From refined Japanese techniques to complex preparations around the fire, using binchotan, konro, kamado and warayaki.
No kitchen brigade behind him. No large kitchen between you and the chef. Yama does it himself.
The exact composition of the menu follows the season, the produce, and what Yama wants to express at that moment.
Omakase, by one chef
Omakase comes from the Japanese verb makaseru: to entrust, to leave something in someone’s hands.
It is a Japanese way of dining in which you leave the choice of dishes to the chef, an expression of trust and respect for the craft.
At A5 YAMA, that trust takes on a very personal form.
Chef Yama has an exceptionally broad repertoire of Japanese techniques.
This is not a sushi omakase, but a complete menu where diverse Japanese techniques, seasonal produce, fire and Yama’s personal cuisine come together.
The Omakase Menu
A complete Japanese omakase menu, prepared entirely by Chef Yama himself, as a 3.5-hour experience at his chef’s table.
At A5 YAMA, we go to great lengths in our choice of ingredients and in what we serve alongside them.
We seek out exceptional ingredients and deliberately choose products that add something meaningful to the menu.
The pairings are part of that same pursuit. Wine, sake, tea and botanicals are not simply served alongside the menu, but carefully chosen to enhance each moment.
And throughout the experience, the menu reveals more.
19 moments. One story, discovered only at the table.