![](https://images.suitcasemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/10142401/the-best-restaurants-in-islington_653b6c534041d.jpeg)
restaurant
Trullo
London, United Kingdom
It all began with Trullo. Ever since opening back in June 2010,
this Italian-inspired restaurant has made people sit up and take
Islington’s culinary scene seriously. Jordan Freida and chef Tim
Siadatan have created a “small menu showcasing what’s good right
now and what’s been made today” based primarily around a charcoal
grill and fresh pasta. The pappardelle with Italian sausage ragu is
a must – warming and deeply satisfying, full of aromatic herbs, red
wine and an intense pork flavour. Resembling a traditional
trattoria, with its net curtains and white paper tablecloths,
Trullo does inevitably draw comparisons with Freida’s alma mater,
The River Café, in Hammersmith. However, the backdrop of St Paul’s
Road brings with it a certain offhand sort of elegance that the
River Thames simply does not. Describing the area as “a very ‘real’
neighbourhood” with a “really unique energy, accessibility and
relevance in modern London,” Freida affirms that “we’re really
proud that you can come here and have a good meal and a bottle of
wine for £30 per head, and that will never change, so we get young
and old, lavish and modest – exactly what a good neighbourhood
restaurant should do!”