Though many in the restaurant industry praise ‘location, location, location’ above much else, there are a surplus of exceptions to the rule across Greater London. My latest find is Highbury and Islington’s Trullo. Sprawled over their ground floor and basement, Trullo’s intimate and low-lit (horrible for taking food photos, fantastic for setting the mood) space is home to a menu of Italian delights that change by the day.
Though the diminutive size of the restaurant means that tables are on a 2-3 hour schedule (dependant on the size of your party), my partner and I enjoyed a well-paced and unintrusively serviced 3-course meal that started with a puntarelle, clementine, pomegranate and salted ricotta salad (£8) and ravioli of calves’ brain and cime di rapa with sage butter (£8). While these two dishes are on entirely different ends of the spectrum, both had my tongue trampolining around my mouth. Nothing quite beats fresh ingredients and fresh creativity.
Fork in hand, I set into my main of line-caught sea bass with Castelluccio lentils, and salsa rossa (£17.5) which – while delightful – was completely overshadowed by my date’s meritorious plate of Hereford beef onglet with braised celeriac, porcini, and watercress (£16). That, my foodie friends, is one of London’s best dishes; expertly-crafted, tender, and salubriously flavorful.
Testing Trullo via my general dislike of pannacotta (logic: if I like your version, you are perfect), I ordered their vanilla and caramel pannacotta (£6.50) which I found far too rich and gelatinous for my personal taste. Thankfully, my sweet tooth stole a few nibbles of their Amalfi lemon tart (£7), which had a cutting Limoncello-esque bite and sweetness that melted down my throat.
Mi piace Trullo.
