When Carmen André first moved to Manchester, the weather came as a bit of a shock to the system. Hailing from the ancient port city of Catania on Sicily’s east coast, the grey outlook and damp conditions certainly took some getting used to.
Proudly Sicilian, she arrived in the city and quickly found a lack of authentic dishes from her homeland. She and business partner Claudio Vitale found plenty of Neapolitan-styled restaurants and concepts, but not a lot showcasing the best of Sicily.
They decided to use their knowledge and experience to open a shop by Piccadilly selling a variety of takeaway dishes, but their hugely popular arancini and ricotta-filled cannoli won over Mancunians, prompting them to open Sicilian NQ, a restaurant and bar tucked away on Turner Street in the Northern Quarter.
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“I started at the back of Piccadilly because we bought a sandwich bar. We didn’t even know what a sandwich bar was and we bought it,” laughs Carmen.
Carmen André opened her restaurant Sicilian NQ just before the pandemic(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
“We started off doing arancini, pizza, and takeaway dishes, and people started to hear about us and the product from Sicily.
“We were surrounded by Neapolitan restaurants and pizzerias everywhere, but there was a lack of Sicilian food – no arancini, no cannoli, and no one knew what these things were.
“I thought why not, I did have a full time job, but it started to go well and in 2020 we got the fully licensed premises and bought here two weeks before Covid. We survived and I got the gelato cart, which saw people queue in the street, and from there we have always been going up – I think things are in the right direction.
The restaurant is known for its authentic Sicilian cooking (Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
While the Mediterranean’s largest island is only a few kilometres from mainland Italy, the cuisine offers something quite different thanks to strong North African influences. Where Carmen is from in the east leans more heavily towards classic Italian dishes but she notes that they have their own sense of identity and make use of ingredients which grow in abundance there.
“Sicily is separate from Italy and we feel that as an Island we are very Sicilian. The arancini and cannoli are very Sicilian and we eat them as street food in the middle of the day.
“Here we sell it in a different way, you sit down and its served on the plate with sauce, so it’s a different experience. There’s Caponata and Parmigiana too, plus clams, mussels are what we eat in Sicily.
While some dishes make the most of fresh seafood, many options of vegetarian and vegan friendly (Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
“I try to take the most famous dishes and do our own take here, we don’t do carbonara because that’s from Rome or Cacio e pepe because they are from the North – we try to be real to ourselves.”
Many of the dishes on the menu have come directly from Carmen’s family too. “The recipes originally came from my mum.
“I had a book full of these recipes. The tomato sauce is very sweet compared to other parts of Italy, we like the sweet taste.
“My chefs also started to change bits here and there, at the beginning I was angry, but then little by little we adapted and we did that for the customers too. Pistachio for example is the green gold of Sicily, we have the best in the world, so I was lucky people here love it.
Carmen gets monthly deliveries from Sicily as well as local Italian suppliers (Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
Pistachio Verde di Bronte DOP, grown on the dark volcanic slopes of Mount Etna is seen as some of the very best, and is used in the restaurant’s savoury dishes, but also for their much-loved gelato too.
“We import directly from Sicily once a month, sometimes twice around Christmas and we store a lot at our warehouse too. We also buy from classics like Amato, and all the fresh things like basil.”
Many diners who visit the restaurant are surprised but happy to learn that the majority of their dishes are either vegetarian or vegan. From their pistachio arancini, and baked cannelloni filled with fresh ricotta, to slow cooked Sicilian ragu topped with cheesy cream sauce and pesto gnocchi, a lot of effort has gone into making the menu accessible, whilst still true to Carmen’s Sicilian roots.
The Sicilian lemon cake(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
They are currently raising money for animal sanctuary in Sicily, which offers shelter and care to animals who have only ever known pain and abuse. They aim to support them in their mission to rescue animals.
“We stand out because we are different, even the people who work here always say ‘this is different’. I like to bring my own style and it’s in my nature.
“I had another company in the field of construction engineering for 23 years. At one point that company had a catering company and we did courses so people were expecting to have their lunch – at the end everyone wanted to come for the lunch rather than the course.”
Carmen is proud to showcase her Sicilian routes and family recipes(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
On the sweeter side, their desserts, like the Sicilian lemon cake and pistachio cake shine brightly alongside classics like Tiramisu, and a variety of cannoli in flavours spanning ricotta, Blanco, chocolate and pistachio
Their gelato has been a big hit too. “Pistachio is the most sold flavour, then we have a lot of fruit flavours – they are very fresh like lemon, orange, mandarin, clementine, passionfruit. We also have chocolate and vanilla, but we don’ t do crazy flavours because I don’t like them.”
Sicilian NQ – Restaurant and Bar is located at 14 Turner St, Manchester M4 1DZ.
Dining and Cooking