Carmen André first moved to Manchester from Catania, Sicily, and found a lack of authentic Sicilian dishes in the city. She and business partner Claudio Vitale opened a shop by Piccadilly selling takeaway dishes, which proved popular, leading them to open Sicilian NQ, a restaurant and bar on Turner Street in the Northern Quarter.
From Sandwich Bar to Restaurant
“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. “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.”
Authentic Sicilian Cuisine
Sicily's cuisine differs from mainland Italy due to strong North African influences. Carmen notes that her region leans towards classic Italian dishes but has its own identity. “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.”
Family Recipes and Local Ingredients
Many dishes come from Carmen's family recipes. “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.”
Pistachio Verde di Bronte DOP, grown on Mount Etna, is used in savoury dishes and gelato. Carmen imports directly from Sicily once a month, sometimes twice around Christmas. Many dishes are vegetarian or vegan, including pistachio arancini, baked cannelloni, and slow cooked Sicilian ragu.
Carmen is raising money for an animal sanctuary in Sicily. “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.” She previously ran a construction engineering company for 23 years. Desserts include Sicilian lemon cake, pistachio cake, and cannoli in flavours like ricotta, chocolate, and pistachio. The most sold gelato flavour is pistachio.
