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The residential suburb of Higashi-Nagasaki is probably the last place you’d expect to find authentic southern Italian fare, but <a href="https://destinasian.com/category/japan/tokyo">Tokyo</a> is a city of surprises. Located just a few paces from the area’s namesake train station, Cadota is the culinary venture of local legend Naoyuki Arai. Inspired by his time in Puglia and driven by a passion for sustainable farm-to-table cooking that uses organic Japanese ingredients, Arai serves cozy Italian food with an artisan focus.
Before dinner service, visitors can often witness the chef himself sitting outside the small restaurant, hand-molding each piece of orecchiette pasta, the restaurant’s signature dish. Cadota’s offerings go beyond pasta, with light salad and cheese plates and moreish sides like Italian fried potatoes. But it is the lovingly made Puglia-inspired pasta that brings people back week after week—that and the cozy community atmosphere only a place this small and so filled with love and familiarity can bring. A meal here is a lesson in what local Tokyo living really looks like. —Lucy Dayman
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/cadota_tokyo/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">instagram.com/cadota_tokyo</a> 
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<a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/aj4DzoxQGgYaSPpX9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4-9-3 Nagasaki, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, Japan</a>

Chef Naoyuki Arai outside Cadota; his signature handmade orecchiette.