I’ve been to Japan a few times now – it’s one of my favourite travel destinations! Every time I go there I’m amazed at how busy yet how well-organised and connected to nature it is. Everything looks perfect – even the trees in the forests are lined up perfectly.

As a foodie destination Japan is hard to beat. I love the purity of the flavours in Japanese cooking, and I’ve found good food in every place I’ve visited. I visited Kyoto in April and with the help of a chef friend of mine who lives there, I tracked down some of the city’s best eateries.

Yakitori Hitomi is a classic yakitori-style restaurant. It’s a small place – the chef was preparing the food in a tiny 3 metre-squared kitchen right in the middle of the restaurant. To start with I ordered some udon noodle soup, then I had three different types of yakitori, i.e. skewers of chicken – all different cuts like thigh, hearts and drumsticks – with various Japanese marinades.

96 Okikucho, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, 606-8376

Fumiya is an udon restaurant that is mostly frequented by locals. It’s very simple – there’s nothing really fancy about it. But every dish uses local ingredients, and it’s very well-priced. I had the kitsume udon, which is a vegetarian dish with udon noodles, tofu and vegetables. It was very, very good!

604-8125 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward

Spot Sushi and Bar is a tiny place which is pretty straightforward – all they do is sushi, and they do it extremely well! The key is the freshness of the seafood. There’s no rosaries, seasonings or avocado like we get in Australia – it’s just sashimi and sushi. I had unagi, octopus and scallops and they were all outstanding. You can really tell the difference in quality. And it wasn’t overly expensive, in fact it was quite affordable.

427 Rinkacho, Shimbashidori Hanamikoji HIgashiiru, Higashiyama, Kyoto 605-0062, Kyoto Prefecture

Suya specialises in okonomiyaki, which is a Japanese savoury pancake made out of eggs, braised cabbage, bean sprouts and tofu cheese, and other ingredients like prawns or beef. The pancakes are topped with Japanese mayo, okonomiyaki sauce (Worcestershire sauce, honey, sugar and soy sauce) and bonito (dried salted fish). Suya’s okonomiyaki were excellent, and they’ve got a good selection of Japanese wines as well.

656-1 Seimei-cho, Nijo-Yanaginobanba, Nakagyo-ku, Nakagyo, Kyoto 604-0951, Kyoto Prefecture

I also found a couple of excellent Italian restaurants in Kyoto.

Ristoria Radice was introduced to me by my friend. Radice’s head chef is Japanese, but he’s worked at Magnolia and Liassi, two Michelin-starred restaurants in my home country – the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The chef makes traditional Italian food with a little bit of Japanese influence, so it’s very interesting. I ordered a veal cotoletta (crumbed veal cutlets), tortinamba (Jerusalem artichoke soup), gnocco fritto (fried dumplings) with prosciutto di Parma, and a classic tagliatelle alla Bolognese – the classic pasta dish from Emilia-Romagna. I couldn’t have made it better myself! And of course I finished off the meal with a tiramisù, which was very well executed.

50 Kagamiyacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-0002

Pinsa di Kyoto is a very traditional Italian-style restaurant. The highlight was their Romana-style pizza, which has a very light base that’s almost like a cross between a pizza and a focaccia. To make the base thick and bubbly, they leave the dough to ferment for 48 hours. It’s worth the wait – it was delicious!

606-8344 Kyoto, Sakyo Ward, Okazaki Enshojicho, １−10B1

Gabriele Olivieri is the head chef at Pentolina, Melbourne’s new laneway haven for fresh pasta and authentic hospitality, 2/377 Little Collins St, Melbourne.

pentolina.com.au @pentolinabar