Judging by the loved-up lunchtime crowd huddled around Yukari Delem Endo’s pocket-sized counter, one thing’s clear: bento is a love story. With Nicolas Delem, her French husband, calmly running the orders, and compatriot Maho Harada holding the fort in the kitchen, the Nagoya native has been winning hearts for nearly a decade with home-style dishes cooked fresh each day and meant to be eaten on the spot. On the menu today? The Yuyu cult hit: karaage fried chicken so shatteringly crisp you’ll drop your chopsticks, thanks to a closely guarded marinade; a delightfully wobbly Chinese-Japanese tenshinhan – a crab omelet draped over warm rice and bathed in a sweet-and-sour sauce that’s been quietly bubbling since dawn; or a yukke don (salmon sashimi marinated in chili sauce, piled onto rice with onions and a glossy raw egg yolk), best enjoyed solo, in reverent silence. Each bento predictably comes with little paper cups of spot-on seasonal pickles and deeply comforting onigiri. For dessert, homemade cherry blossom mochi – as kawaii as it is playfully cheeky. · Alban Mont

FEELING THIRSTY? Nothing to write home about: everyday sodas and fruit juices (€2), Coedo IPA beer (€4.50) and Lamune yuzu lemonade (€3).

PRICE: Bento €13, miso soup €5-8, karaage €1.50, tonkatsu €6, onigiri €2.50