We got off the train at Shibukawa Station and went outside to reassemble our bicycles. We took the short two minute bike ride to our lunch stop at Takayuki Shokudo in Shibukawa. One of our casual hobbies while travelling is to look for local family run restaurants in the area we’re in. These restaurants usually have a number of common features, like being run by members of an extended family, are usually on the first floor of a multi-story house, serve comfort food, are popular with the locals, and have pretty affordable prices. I can say that we have found one of these such restaurants in the city of Shibukawa in Gunma Prefecture.

The interior of the restaurant consisted of four tables, a small counter area, and two tables on a raised platform. We were seated on the raised platform and had to take off our shoes before getting on it. The restaurant was pretty busy when we got in.

The restaurant appears to be popular with local workers on there lunch break. There were a good number of seniors as well who all seemed to be really friendly with the waitress and cooking staff.

Takayuki Shokudo Menu

The restaurant was in a small standalone building with a hard to miss yellow exterior and faded red writing. The restaurants menu was written in the traditional way, which was on the wall. Through our mediocre Japanese reading ability we were able to figure out what most of them were. The blackboard on the right listed the specials for the day.

Takayuki Shokudo Food Review

We decided to go with the katsu curry set and the jumbo fried shrimp set. I don’t typically like curry, but this curry had really good flavor. The katsu was crispy and juicy inside. The fried shrimp were good as well, they were very meaty and the outside was nice and crispy. Best of all, the price of the food was reasonable. We got in at a good time as a line had begun to form when we left.

Final Thoughts

If your looking for a hearty lunch or dinner at a reasonable price then we highly recommend Takayuki Shokudo in Shibukawa. This restaurant checked all of our boxes. It had great food, a convenient location, and was affordable. Just be ready for a line.

Here is the link to their website.

More to Come…