Trullo

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Since opening in June 2010, Trullo on St Paul's Road in Islington has earned a reputation that critics struggle to leave alone. Giles Coren of the Times famously wrote that he'd been twice in three days and was going back on Friday. Jay Rayner put it more plainly in the Observer: "there's no secret to Trullo's success." That recognition extends to Gambero Rosso, which has awarded the restaurant a fork — a mark of quality that confirms what regulars already know.

The Idea Behind the Kitchen

The menu is Italian-inspired but rooted in British seasonality — a distinction that matters here. It changes twice daily, driven by what the kitchen can source and cook well that day. Chef and co-founder Tim Siadatan has articulated this philosophy in print: The Trullo Cookbook is described as "a British take on Italian cooking... serious cooking, but with a simple, laid-back approach." That book also tells the story of how Trullo's pasta dishes directly inspired the sister restaurant Padella.

Two techniques anchor the menu: fresh hand-made pasta, rolled minutes before service, and a charcoal grill that burns from the first cover to the last. The kitchen begins prep at 9am; the grill burns out around 11pm. Everything in between is built around that rhythm.

What to Eat

The pappardelle with beef shin ragù is the signature — eight hours in the making, according to the kitchen's own account of its day. On any given service, the pasta section might also include pici with golden garlic and marjoram, tagliarini with picked Dorset crab and Amalfi lemon, or ravioli of calves' brain with sage. The sourcing is specific: Newlyn squid, Paignton scallops, Brixham turbot, Hereford beef. Produce is named and traceable, which reflects the kitchen's stated commitment to understanding where ingredients come from.

From the grill, fish and meat arrive over burning coals — Torbay lemon sole with sea herbs and brown shrimp, or a 45-day aged Hereford sirloin served for two or three to share. Antipasti lean into Italian instincts: mozzarella di bufala with grilled peach, culatello with Zerbinati melon, bruschetta with buffalo ricotta and marinated anchovy.

The Room and the Bar

Tracey MacLeod in the Independent captured the atmosphere well: the feeling, she wrote, was of "that perfect, elusive little Tuscan trattoria Islingtonians dream of finding on holiday" — with London buses passing outside. The restaurant also has its own bar, open from early evening, where a spritz before dinner is quietly encouraged. Private hire is available for events, and the kitchen can accommodate most dietary requirements when noted at booking.

Trullo is the kind of place that earns its reputation not through novelty but through consistency — good produce, honest technique, and a room that hums.