池袋 割烹、小料理 秀（Shu） at Ikebukuro, Tokyo

A tiny kappou in a back street off Ikebukuro, where an elderly couple serve honest washoku at gentle prices.

Kisetsu Ryouri Shu is a small kappou-style Japanese restaurant tucked down a quiet side street a short walk from Ikebukuro, opened in 2001 and run by an elderly husband-and-wife team. The grandfather has spent more than forty years in the kitchen and, despite a roguish manner, proves affable and meticulous in conversation; his washoku balances honest, heart-warming flavour with the precise technique of a seasoned craftsman. Though the word kappou sounds grand, the aim here is genuine Japanese cooking at affordable prices. The evening menu shifts with the season, taking in dishes such as grilled or simmered silver cod, charcoal-style mebaru collar, kinza-pork ponzu, chicken karaage, fresh wakatake-ni, octopus with negi, dried-fish grated daikon and pickled hakusai, mostly priced between 600 and 1,800 yen. Lunchtime brings the popular kimagure teishoku, a whimsical set meal that lets the kitchen show off whatever is good that day. Salarymen and office workers drop in after work, and the room also hosts the occasional small banquet. What sets Shu apart is the unhurried, family-run warmth of a place where the cooking comes first and the prices stay kind. It is well suited to anyone wanting a quiet, properly made Japanese meal without ceremony, whether a solo diner seeking comfort or a small group marking a modest occasion. Slip off the main drag, find the little restaurant, and let a veteran chef feed you the way he has for two decades.