Trullo

Trullo

http://www.trullorestaurant.com

Trullo, 300 St Paul's Road London N1 | The Independent

Our dinner at Trullo, suggested by an eager local friend, needed to be planned like a military campaign, with dates and babysitters ring-fenced weeks in advance, and a table finally, triumphantly, secured for several weeks ahead, albeit for a 7pm sitting.

But to eat the dishes produced in Trullo's tiny kitchen is very heaven.

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.

Hugely to the credit of the Trullo boys, given the demand for tables, they have managed to keep prices incredibly low; starters and pasta dishes are £5.50-£7, main courses £13-£15, and puddings – including a nut-rubbly chocolate/pistachio cake – £4.50/£5.

Our dinner for two at Fifteen cost almost as much as dinner for four at Trullo; the steep pricing may be the reason that Fifteen has never really registered as a destination restaurant, other than for out-of-towners.

Trullo restaurant review 2011 April London | Italian Cuisine | food ...

The dining room has dark wood floor, small low chairs and paper tablecloths, with music (quite a mix including Elvis) playing in the background, though at moderate volume.

It had selections such as Donnafugata Sherazade 2009 at £27 for a wine that costs £9 retail, Fossacolle Rosso di Montalcino 2008 at £43 for a wine that shops charge £17 for, with some unusual wines such as Franz Haas Manna 2008 at £49 for a wine that will set you back £20 to buy.

Linguine was dried pasta and slightly al dente, with Ortiz (high end Spanish) anchovies, chilli and pangrattato (crispy breadcrumbs).

I liked this pasta more than the linguine, and the mint flavour was restrained, but the dish was let down by some tasteless peas (13/20 at most).

The best dish was a whole plaice with a salad of radish, cucumber and chervil.

Trullo - restaurant review | London Evening Standard

But a happy result of this dedication, supplemented by their wonderfully approachable cookbooks, is that a whole generation of cooks, both professional and domestic, have carried the River Café’s principles out into the wider world.

Trullo, named after the daft conical houses in Apulia, has been opened by Jordan Frieda, formerly front-of-house at the River Café itself, and Tim Siadatan, in 2002 the star of the first Jamie’s Kitchen, following a bunch of apprentice chefs at Fifteen, Jamie Oliver himself being an early River Café escapee.

Bucatini with lemon (£4.50) was the classic River Café version, a simple dish combining lemon juice and zest, olive oil, parmesan and basil leaves, absolutely perfectly done, tangy and refreshing, a great summer starter.

All these prices are less than half what the River Café itself charges for equivalent dishes.

If you really wanted to be snippy, you could still carp about the whole River Café phenomenon of Italian restaurants being run by non-native Italians, as though to say: we can do it better.

Trullo, London N1, restaurant review - Telegraph

I'd understand if it were dirt cheap, but I'd call it actually mid-range: at which price point, I think if your customers want two starters, that should be up to them.

We asked whether we needed vegetables; the waitress swore blind that mine came with carrots and celery (what she meant was there was a soffritto basis to the stew, as there is with pretty much all Italian stews.

Anyway, T's chop was lovely, as was the celeriac purée; that dish was a roaring success.

Mine was like the Italian answer to cassoulet: a stew of ox tongue (gorgeous), beef brisket (wonderful melting texture, delicious and salty) and cotechino.

Dine on braised venison with roast vegetables and potatoes (£32.50 for three courses) Children (and grown-ups) love this fairytale treetop restaurant high above the landscape gardens.

Restaurant review: Trullo | Life and style | The Guardian

Meal for two, including wine and service, £75 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.

The influence of all three places is felt in plates of simple, ingredient-led food, with a generally Italian bent.

Here, where a plate of impeccable handmade pasta costs £4.50, it's peasant food at prices the mere bourgeoisie could afford.

The success of a cannellini bean bruschetta had less to do with the beans themselves, good though they were, than the wonderful olive oil, the crunch of salt and the aromatic green herbs.

Tagliarini was mined with nutty, intense brown shrimps and fine strips of courgette – zucchini in the menu, a minor affectation – and chilli.

Trullo | Restaurants in Canonbury, London

Highbury's star Italian, two floors of contemporary trattoria with a serious reputation for fresh pasta, charcoal grilling, and wicked fruit tarts.

While evenings are still busy-to-frantic in this two-floored contemporary trattoria, lunchtime finds Trullo calm and the cooking relaxed and assured.

A bargain £12 set menu gleans two courses (primi plus either antipasti or dessert) from a daily-changing menu.

Seasonal tagliarini with nettles and nutmeg featured an uncooked egg yolk wobbling daintily atop a vast pile of green pasta; when mixed in, it made a wonderfully creamy dish.

In opting for the set menu you miss out on the roasts and grills, but as a giant Black Hampshire pork chop and generous cod with cannellini beans and mussels whisked by our table, we weren’t sorry to have missed out on them – after all, where would we have put the succulent loquat and almond tart?