Good ingredients, lovely service and reasonable prices are hardly a revolutionary business formula, but simplicity is often the first casualty of a new restaurant concept. Trullo’s back-to-basics approach has helped inspire a spate of stripped-back new-wave Italian restaurants in the capital in recent years, not least fresh pasta joint Padella, set up by Trullo’s owners in 2016.
The original restaurant has stuck resolutely to its principles in the intervening years, and is not surprisingly still packing them in. Chef Tim Siadatan uses his previous experiences at Fifteen, St John and Moro to good effect, resisting the temptation to mess about too much with ultra fresh British produce in order to create Italian dishes that are full of flavour.
Grilled ox heart with baked borlotti beans and salsa rossa stands out among the antipasti, while there’s Cornish hake with courgette trifolate and bottarga from the oven and onglet from the grill, pepped up with chilli, garlic and anchovy. Pasta is made fresh on site to be used in dishes such as ravioli of Westcombe ricotta with sage butter and pappardelle with beef shin ragu.
Prices are eminently fair both for the food and the all Italian wine list, while the staff that patrol the bright white dining rooms are unfailingly polite and friendly.
