Italy’s graceful city of Turin – the county’s first capital and seat of the royal family – is often overlooked by travellers. The stylish Turinese are happy for their city – the home of Nutella, Fiat, Eataly, Cinzano vermouth, Lavazza, aperitivo culture and the 2006 Winter Olympics – to fly under the radar, as the seductive appeal lies in its preservation.

Bars and restaurants flaunt Piedmont’s bounty of white truffles, wine, hazelnut chocolate, Fassone beef and exceptional cheese, while the Po River and snowcapped Alps form a backdrop for elegant Baroque palaces, modernist architecture and ancient cobblestoned laneways.

Relics of Benito Mussolini’s modernist movement harmoniously clash with the royal past and contemporary food and art scene, and you’ll find disused convents or Fiat and vermouth factories transformed into galleries and restaurants. After a few days eating your way through the city, get out of town to explore the nearby wine regions of Barolo, Barbera and Asti.

The Italians seem to have missed the advice to ‘breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper’, starting the day with hits of caffeine and nicotine instead. The standard price of an espresso, or caffe normale, is €1 (about $1.50); if you prefer yours white, ask for a cappuccino or latte macchiato, as ‘latte’ literally translates to ‘milk’. Italians dabble in croissants at breakfast, but they call them brioche and they come stuffed with crema pasticcera (custard), marmellata (jam) or Nutella. For a classic breakfast, head to historic Pasticceria Gerla 1927 (Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 88); Caffe Baratti & Milano (Piazza Castello, 27/29), famous for its Art Nouveau bling and handmade chocolates; or beautiful Piazza Carignano where you’ll find Gelati Pepino, an old-world cafe-cum-gelateria.

The bicerin, a Turinese speciality of coffee layered with cream and dark chocolate, is a rite of passage for any visitor. Sit fuori (outside – the Italians don’t use al fresco) at Caffè Al Bicerin (bicerin. it/eng) while you watch the crowds in Piazza della Consolata, or retrace the steps of the city’s intelligentsia and sip your bicerin at fancy Caffè Fiorio (Via Po, 8), which opened in 1780.

Sourdough aficionados will love Perino Vesco (Via Cavour, 10), where a counter overflows with baked goods, from focaccia and ancient-grain sourdough to raspberry crostata (baked tart) and plump cannoli. The city’s hipster coffee award goes to Orso Laboratorio Caffè (Via Claudio Luigi Berthollet, 30), a cool space that triples as a cafe, coffee roaster and cocktail bar, offering a refreshing alternative to all that old-world glamour. Single-origin brews are delivered via siphon, AeroPress, Moka, Chemex, espresso et al., and homesickness can be cured by a flat white.

A few cafes offer weekend brunch: Sweet Lab (Via Principe Amedeo, 39) has a kitsch American gingham vibe and the menu spans omelettes, eggs Benedict, smoothie bowls and pancake stacks. Barbiturici (Italian for barbiturates; Via Santa Giulia, 21; +39 011 276 7449) has a surgical-chic interior and the highlight is bagels stacked with classic and Italian fillings. Pai Bikery bicycle garage and cafe (Via Cagliari, 18) does soups, sandwiches and cakes – perhaps almond and raspberry crostata or delicious blueberry cheesecake – during the week and savoury pancakes on weekends. Parmigiana pancakes, need I say more?

Scannabue (Largo Saluzzo, 25), a charming trattoria in bustling San Salvario, is an institution. The classic racing-car-green-and-darkwood interior is complemented by a menu of Piedmont’s greatest hits – tajarin pasta, Fassone beef, vitello tonnato, tripe, and hazelnut-laced desserts. This is northern Italian comfort food at its best, with an epic list of local wines to match.

In the city’s Roman quarter you’ll find Tre Galli (Via Sant’Agostino, 25), the boisterous younger sister of the long-established, and far more fancy, Tre Galline (Via G. Bellezia, 37). The labyrinthine restaurant offers niches to settle in with a plate of porcini pappardelle or handmade agnolotti (beef-filled pasta similar to ravioli) and a bottle of nebbiolo. When it’s warmer, tables spill onto the street to be topped with glasses of prosecco or other drops from the 1200-bottle wine list.

Restaurant Carlina at the new NH Collection Piazza Carlina hotel offers two menus, one local and another that marries chef Vasyl Andrusyshyn’s travels of South America and Southeast Asia with the best of Italy. The wine menu, curated by the same team behind the Tre Galli and Galline cellars, lists more than 500 labels, so it’s wise to flag down the sommelier unless you already have a bottle in mind. Grouper ceviche with leche de tigre (a citrus-based marinade) is cleverly matched with Fever-Tree elderflower tonic water; octopus with coriander pesto and burrata comes with a glass of minerally Monte Carbonare soave; and a simple spaghetti topped with shaved bottarga (cured fish roe) is paired with derthona timorasso – a rare Piedmontese grape that is notoriously hard to grow but rewards with a voluptuous body and chalky apricot notes that stand up to rich pasta.

At Bottega Baretti (Via Sant’Anselmo, 28), the light is low, the music pumps and the stylish clientele exchange air kisses over pizzas fresh from the woodfired oven. Coppa and burrata make for an X-rated combo, while the parmigiana pizza is a revelation. For a similar buzz, Banco Vini e Alimenti (Via Mercanti, 13) is a mod wine bar with Italian tapas – pulled pork slider or stuffed artichoke, anyone? – and a serious selection of natural wines. The menu at relaxed Casa Broglia in Piazza IV Marzo is an ode to Piedmont, from risotto with Barbera d’Asti and salsiccia di Bra (a moreish raw sausage from Bra, the slow-food capital, seasoned with black pepper and nutmeg) to bonet, a local pudding-like dessert made with chocolate and amaretti. Osteria Le Putrelle (Via Valperga Caluso, 11) offers the same low-fi comfort, via plates of purple gnocchi and agnolotti and affordable Piedmontese wines, while Lo Spaccio Alimentare (Via Belfiore, 24) is an easygoing bistro where you can mull over salumi or dive into a solid plate of pasta.

After perusing Porta Palazzo market (Piazza della Repubblica), take a seat in the sun at Pescheria Gallina, a casual seafood bar on the market rim where you pick the seafood you’d like cooked. Frittura mista is a tangle of lightly fried sardines, squid and prawns, cod crocchette are crisp and golden, and sea bream (orata) is cooked to perfection with the simple lick of the grill.

For lunch, Pastificio Defilippis (Via Lagrange, 39) has a hearty selection of deli plates, including lasagne, quiche and daily fish and meat specials; PolentOne (Via Po, 35) does bowls of soft-serve polenta topped with the likes of wild-boar ragu or five-cheese sauce; and Gofreria Piemonteisa (Via San Tommaso, 7) is the home of the ancient street food gofre, waffles loaded with meat and cheese.

Piedmont may be the land of beef, but its location just a few hours from the Ligurian coast means seafood is not hard to find. Down-to-earth Il Chiosco dello Zoo (Via Eusebio Bava, 30; +39 346 747 0782) is so popular for its €25 set menu that it has opened a second post in San Salvario (Via San Pio V, 8). With its laid-back atmosphere, you could almost have your feet in the sand as you tuck in to marinated octopus with couscous and garlicky prawn linguine. Pippo Paranza (Via Gian Francesco Bellezia, 29) is another set-menu seafood joint with a kitsch coastal fit-out. Wine comes by the carafe and service is fast and friendly. Ortigia Bistrot (Via Sant’Agostino, 15; +39 011 264 5290) specialises in Sicilian fare, with pesce crudo (raw fish) and caponata all must-eats.

Chefs thinking outside the box in a country so fond of tradition offer a refreshing alternative. At E Cucina (Via Antonio Bertola, 27; +39 011 562 9038), the set menus start at €10 and span fish, meat or vegetarian. Layers of eggplant stacked with stracciatella cheese, orange and black olives, and prawns swimming in green sauce and a tangle of fried leeks certainly push the envelope, but lack the finesse of a fine-diner, making this a convivial eatery for groups and families.