Even a lingering winter has its upsides. The longer and harsher the conditions, the more appealing it is to sit down to a bubbling, warming nabe hot-pot — especially if it comes with a dash of contemporary style, as it does at Bettei.

This easy-going diner in the backstreets of Ebisu is by no means a dedicated nabe restaurant. In fact, given its counter seating, eclectic food menu and range of wine (all "bio"), prime shōchū and premium junmai and ginjō sake, it's a perfect example of a modern washoku dining bar, or an izakaya reinvented for the present decade.

It's not the genre that matters, it's the food. The specialties at Bettei are Gin-no-kamo, a variety of Barbary duck raised in Aomori Prefecture; and fresh vegetables grown in the market gardens of Kamakura on the Shonan (Kanagawa) coast just south of Tokyo. Put the two together and you're all primed for one of the tastiest types of nabe: kamo-shabu.