Cheery staff keep things ticking over, and there’s a welcome focus on sake with flights tailored for beginners or old hands. A classy joint on a mission to create s

The Japanese have a term for Japanese-Italian cuisine – itameshi – and Ito speaks it fluently. Imagine Italian panzanella, piled high with heirloom tomato and chewy sourdough croutons on creamy stracciatella with a sparkly salsa verde of aonori seaweed. Right?

Or Hokkaido scallop ravioli in a rich, buttery spanner-crab sauce. Or deeply caramelised duck tsukune served over radicchio leaves and onion that soak up the juice.

Chef Erik Ortolani fell in love with Japanese food at Potts Point’s Cho Cho San, and subtly infuses it with the flavours of his Italian heritage at this buzzing two-level ode to the izakaya from the team behind Aalia and Nour.

Cheery staff keep things ticking over, and there’s a welcome focus on sake with flights tailored for beginners or old hands. A classy joint on a mission to create something new that turns out to be surprisingly familiar.

Good to know: The $49 set lunch, served Wednesday through Friday, is a steal.

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