Chef Dara Klein has announced she will open her regional Italian restaurant, Tiella Trattoria & Bar, in mid-January. It’s the next step for the Tiella concept, which found a fanbase during an almost two-year residency at Islington’s The Compton Arms. Klein and business partner, restaurateur Ry Jessup (who founded Homeslice), will open the trattoria on Columbia Road within a former Victorian pub, with a menu running from Italy’s north to its south.
As diners arrive they’ll find a 15-seat bar that leads through to a 30-cover dining room with an open kitchen. The space will be decorated in terracotta, reds and yellows, with Victorian tiling and wood panelling nodding to the building’s history. Items from antique markets and reclamation yards will sit alongside family heirlooms and furniture found on-site during the restoration. Much of the design references Maria Pia’s, the trattoria Klein’s family ran in Wellington, New Zealand, after they relocated from Italy when she was six.
“Each of the design decisions come from the heart, from close childhood memories,” Klein said in a statement. “Tiella is an amalgamation of these memories along with the building’s pub history. Since our residency at The Compton Arms, I saw a link between pubs and trattoria – lots of wood, tiles, mirrors, personal artefacts, bric-a-brac and family photos.”
Klein’s cooking at Tiella will draw from her Pugliese background and childhood in Italy’s gastronomic heartland, Emilia-Romagna, as well as more than a decade of immersion in Italy’s trattoria culture. She’ll harness produce and ingredients from suppliers including Cibo, La Sovrana and HG Walter. Spanning dishes from Italy’s north to its south, the menu might include smaller dishes like Sicilian panelle (chickpea fritters) with caper mayo and ricotta with Calabrian chilli and Sardinian honey. On the larger side could be primi like passatelli (a pasta made with parmesan) in brodo (broth) and secondi such as chicken Milanese given extra crunch with green apple and celery. For dessert, diners might find bay leaf panna cotta with blood orange, and torta caprese (chocolate and almond cake) with amarena cherries and crème fraiche.
For drinks, expect a diverse wine list that includes classics alongside slow wines, put together in collaboration with Klein’s father, Richard Klein, who runs Artigiano Imports, a wine importer based in New Zealand. There’ll also be three tap beers (including Guinness), two house wines on tap and a tight selection of cocktails, and visitors can come by just for a drink.
Klein says she and Jessup are “starting small”, but the concept will evolve over time to encompass Sunday specials and set lunches. “I hope to cook here for decades, so we’re taking baby steps – seeing what resonates, listening to the locals,” Klein says. “They’ll be our most treasured guests, and the space needs to make sense to them.”
Tiella opens mid-January at 109 Columbia Road, E2 7RL.
