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Since opening in 2017, TT Liquor has become a mainstay of the Shoreditch cocktail circuit. Nestled away in an old police station on Kingsland Road, it looks like any other small, vaguely-prohibition-era themed bar and bottle shop, but appearances can be deceptive. The building is huge in comparison to its single-terraced shopfront, and now that they’ve opened a permanent rooftop restaurant, there’s barely a reason to ever leave the place. 

We know what you’re thinking: rooftop restaurant? In a country that sees more rain than most monsoon seasons? Fear not, TT have invested in a retractable roof, so you’ll never get rained on – it was actually sunny on the evening we visited, so we didn’t get to see it in action, but we assume it’s exactly like when they close the roof at Wimbledon, only with fewer portions of strawberries and cream.

But enough about architecture, what about the food? It’s a ‘small and sharing plates’ affair, but then so is every other new restaurant in England. Luckily portion sizes fall on the right end of generous, with a plate of saucisson coming in at under a tenner and tasting incredible. The ox cheek croquettes, similarly modestly priced, are also a must-get, the crisp, dense shell breaking to reveal a gloriously gooey, beefy interior.

The larger offerings tend towards a barbecue theme, which makes sense given the surroundings. Both pork belly and chargrilled chicken thighs are done to perfection, moist, tender and packing a smoky wallop. Neither come with sides, but fries are available, alongside a vaguely named ‘citrus salad’ which turns out to be thin slices of grapefruit or blood orange (we’re honestly not sure which), dressed in olive oil and topped with slices of chilli pepper. Sounds weird, tastes amazing – trust us.

One thing all of the above have in common is how immaculately paired they are with some of the best sauces we can remember having. The pork belly comes dripping in a smoked apple and pickled chilli hot sauce which we genuinely wanted to lick off the plate, while the chicken thighs are served alongside a delicious smear of Tirokafteri, a spicy feta and red pepper dip which cuts right through the smoke of the chicken. Even the fries come with a garlic aioli, and in a world of garlic dips, we can honestly say this one is up there with the best.

Dessert-wise, the pecan ice cream is made in house, and is absolutely perfect. Salty, creamy, cold enough to combat the warmest of summer rooftop meals – TT, we beg you to please start selling it to take away. It’s the perfect end to some of the best food we’ve had in months.

TT’s foray into being a full-time restaurant has hit the ground running, to say the least. If we had to nitpick, one minor criticism is that while the food was beyond reproach, the timings were a bit off. The pork belly came first and was long finished before the chicken, fries and salad arrived. It’s a small plates restaurant and we were warned that food came as it was ready, but serving a dish with as good a sauce as the pork belly without anything to mop it up with is tantamount to torture. 

Still, it’s a minor complaint in a meal that we’d otherwise highly recommend. Put it this way – if the main issue is that the food was so good we wanted a way to eat as much of it as possible, we can hardly complain too much, can we?

For further information on TT, see here. 

TT, 17b Kingsland Road, London E2 8AA

Photo credit: Nic-Crilly Hargrave