Dr. Johnson once said 'A man who has never been to Italy will always be conscious of an inferiority'. It's a sentiment that I have some sympathy with, since a modicum of Chauvinist bias remains in me. I assume that when he made the comment - during the era of the Grand Tour - he was referring to the cultural heritage that the young British gentry and aristocrats were soaking up on their tours in Italy. That heritage of the artistic rinascimento, the paintings, the sculptures and music, are still there to be experienced, but the modern traveller will be conscious of another cultural aspect - the food.

It's undeniable that much of Italy's cuisine has made its way to the Irish table: pasta, pizza and olive oil are so much a part of modern Irish diet that they almost seem like indigenous foods. Flick through the 'Yellow Pages' listings of restaurants and the largest single cuisine type is Italian. But whoa up there, just because they're called 'Italian' doesn't make them so. Even with Italian sounding names, there are places that masquerade as Italian, offering ersatz foodstuffs like Danish mozzarella, deep-pan pizzas, cheap oils that don't come from olives, carbonara with cream and onions, cheap Parmesan substitutes and stuff called 'Bolognese' that is as close to the dish from Bologna as Irish stew.

The trouble with all of this is that it's possible to believe that junk like I've listed is actually representative of Italian food. It takes a trip to Italy to find that out that it isn't. Irish friends of mine visiting me over the years in Italy have been astounded and delighted to find out what the real thing tastes like. Once you've tasted buffalo mozzarella from the Campania, tortellini in Bologna, mountain oregano, an espresso in Naples, pesto from Genoa, osso buco in Rome, polenta in Venice or escalopes in Milan you won't like the nasty substitutes that are frequently on offer here.

This summer Marian Kenny came to visit me in Italy and she really enjoyed being introduced to Italian food as it should be cooked. We had a couple of memorable meals, and although she normally eats very daintily, she was soon enjoying her food in Italian quantities as well. Bearing this in mind, I thought that to celebrate her birthday we could go to an Italian restaurant that actually has Italian food. Bellagio is on the Terenure Road, which places it near a couple of other good restaurants. It's next door to Vermillion and across the road from Lisa's Trattoria, which also serves good Italian food.

Inside Bellagio is simply laid out, the tables and chairs are plain but comfortable, the decoration unobtrusive and the whole gives an impression of a trattoria. The far end of the room is open to the kitchen, so you have the element of theatre as well. Naturally we picked a table where I had a good view of the chefs at work and settled into reading the menu. The first thing you notice is the prices. The twenty starters begin as low as €3, plenty under a fiver and run up to maximum of €11, which is for a mixed platter of prawns and squid. There's two pages of pastas, which are all priced at around €10 except for the fishy ones, which run up to €14.50, then there's a page of pizzas which are also priced around €10, and lastly two pages of main courses. It's here that you really notice how reasonable the prices are. Chicken dishes start at €11, there's a sirloin steak for €16.50 and veal escalopes for €15. Of the two pages of main courses, most of them are clustered around the €15 mark, with only the sea-food dishes and fillet of beef dishes running to over €20.

The wine list is as terrific value as the menu. The house wines, a decent Montepulciano and Trebbiano d'Abruzzo are only €15 a bottle. Apart from an Amarone 1999 at €45, no wine is listed over €21, which means you could have two bottles of a decent wine for the price of one in many other restaurants. We had a Pinot Grigio at €21.

We started our meal with an antipasto for Marian, which was a large plate of mixed cured meats and cheeses, while I had the gnocchi alla Sorrentina. Although an antipasto is often described as an Italian hors d'oeuvres, it's actually surprisingly filling. Bellagio's version is no exception, being a very generous plateful of tasty nibbles. My gnocchi, which I'd chosen as a test since it can often be heavy and leaden, turned out to be very good. The gnocchi were tender, the cheese sauce was well-flavoured and the dish was a big success with both of us.

For our main courses Marian had chosen chicken diavola, which came with aubergines, courgettes, peppers and chilli in a tomato sauce. She pronounced it as good as any she'd had in Italy - praise indeed. I'd picked the veal escalopes Milanese, which is thin slices of veal crumbed and fried. It's a simple dish, but one that can easily go wrong. Mine thankfully was well made, the thin slices nicely crisped and served with a plain green salad and a slice of lemon, which is exactly how I like it.

Somehow word had reached the kitchen that we were celebrating Marian's birthday - I plead ignorance as to how - and suddenly the lights dimmed, 'Happy Birthday' rang out from the sound system and there it was, a birthday cake with a candle on it. 'Oh, you shouldn't have,' said Marian, but I think she was delighted with her dessert. Two espressos finished the meal, which came to €76.50, a very low price for honest, well-made, genuine food.