london
Trullo
• Italian• Highbury
About the restaurant
Chef Tim Siadatan and his business partner Jordan Frieda opened Trullo in 2010, before fresh pasta and low-intervention wine had gone mainstream. The two have since found huge success with their more casual Borough restaurant Padella and its sister site in Shoreditch.
Trullo is right in the middle of leafy Highbury, and is a beautiful destination for a family dinner, a date night or a catch-up with a bigger group. Wood flooring and chairs give the dining room a lightly rustic feel, while crisp decor keeps it modern enough not to feel kitsch.
There’s an instantly likeable feel to the menu here, with a few primi piatti dishes made with fresh pasta complemented by some bigger plates. Expect dishes like grilled pork chops, 42-day-aged belted galloway t-bone to share, and light and delicious starters like Norfolk asparagus with hot butter and bottarga. A cocktail and spritz menu backs up a short wine list full of good-value Italian wines, with almost all available by the glass.
Reviews from the Web
Critic reviews
The Infatuation
Trullo is the older, adult, sibling to Padella. There are no queues here. No counters either. No no no. This is a grown-up Italian restaurant.
The Guardian
Towards the end of our rather lovely dinner at Trullo, the sort of dinner that can restore your faith in the often grisly business of getting food cooked for you by other people in return for money, my companion asked what I didn't like about the place
Standard
Despite his youth, Frieda is a remarkably confident host-patron, almost single handedly creating an easy-going mood, enhanced by a retro soundtrack.
The Telegraph
I thought Trullo was going to be extremely good, because it took me such an unspeakable age to get a table
The Independent
The men behind this dream of a local have both stepped from a wider stage; co-owner and restaurant manager Jordan Frieda (son of Lulu and John Frieda) is a River Café alumnus, while chef Tim Siadatan was one of the original intake of jobless teenage trainees at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen, as chronicled in the TV series Jamie's Kitchen.
Time Out
While evenings are still busy-to-frantic in this two-floored contemporary trattoria, lunchtime finds Trullo calm and the cooking relaxed and assured.
The Nudge
Named after the unique, conically-shaped white stone houses in Puglia which Italians allegedly used to rapidly deconstruct when the tax collectors came to town, Trullo’s generally regarded as one the best Italian restaurants in London and a jewel in Islington’s culinary crown.
- 300-302, St Paul's Rd
- N1 2LH
- London
- +44 20 7226 2733
- Visit website
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