A venue which has been causing a lot of buzz about town for many years now is Sicilian NQ, which unsurprisingly is based in the heart of the city's Northern Quarter.  It's always looked great on socials, with their towering arancini selection clearly being at the heart of the whole product.  It's probably the most iconic foodstuff to come out of Sicily though, which works for me as a fan of the globally famous rice balls.

But somehow we've never paid a visit to find out first hand, so when an invitation to call in landed in our inbox, it was one that we didn’t want to pass up.  Off to headed across town on an entirely un-Sicilian like wet and windy August evening to find out for ourselves in person.

Once inside, it's as cozy and homely as you could ever hope for, and the dining room was packed out despite that those dreary skies outside, which is more evidence of the loyal following that Sicilian NQ has assembled over the years.  Carmen, the lady behind Sicilian NQ, sat us down and instantly made us feel welcomed like family.

The menu is packed full and has more options that you'd ever expect from such a compact venue with no doubt limited kitchen space too. But there's something for all tastes and budgets, with that Sicilian ethos on display across all parts of the carte.  There's also a very pleasingly priced vegan set menu which comes in at just £25 for 3 courses, which in this current climate is outstanding value for money.  After a short browse, we decided to ask that the kitchen just feed us their greatest hits and then sat back to enjoy the ride.

In true Sicilian style we started off with a glass of wine each, in this case picked from the house wine options; a Pinot Grigio and also a Nero d'Avola, from the renowned Cantine Fina, of course from Sicily as was the Pinot.  Seeing a venue be so passionate about showcasing a specific region, in everything that they do, is just wonderful.

To accompany the wine was a little nibble of house made Garlic Focaccia (£7), topped with a generous serving of cheese, this really got us in the mood for what lay ahead so with the aperitivo down, we were well and truly ready for the main event and it didn’t take very long for things to start arriving.

Our first starter was the Arancino Pistachio (£9), a splendid flavour combination of Sicily's iconic street food and the currently trendy pistachio.  But the arancini here are a far cry from the regular bite sized versions that you may expect and are way more substantial in size.   This one was tennis ball sized, stuffed with spinach, and sat in a creamy homemade pistachio sauce, topped with extra pistachio for more flavour and a nice bit of texture too!.

But Sicilian NQ's headline arancino is the Mr Mount Etna (£10.5); a tower of all things Sicily and was our table favourite.  A volcanic-shaped arancino filled with a core of slow cooked Sicilian ragu, finished with a rich ragu topping and a lovely creamy parmesan.  Cutting it in half revealed all those layers of outside crumb, the shaped rice, and then it's ragu centre.  The table let out an auditable 'ooooh', upon the reveal.

It was time for our mains and Spaghetti Vongole (£18) is an unmissable classic that I'll often head towards ordering, so seeing it arrive via our surprise menu was good news.  Perfectly cooked pasta tossed with a bit of garlic, chilli, white wine, and the juice from those steamed clams, was just a classic flavour combo which has been legendary for decades.  It's a dish that for me is widely underrated and not seen on Italian menus in Britain anywhere near enough.

Parmigiana Sicilian NQ (£17) was our second main course and is another absolute regional classic which has become a staple in broader Italian cuisine.  Generous layers of fried aubergine, baked with a robust tomato sauce infused with basil and garlic, topped off with cheese for an indulgent finish.  It's an absolutely iconic dish.

Speaking of iconic, if you think of a single dish to originate from Sicily, then for me it's probably going to be the Canolo.  Fortunately they are not only on the menu but there's a good selection of fillings on offer here, for us it simply had to be the Ricotta Cannolo (£8). Tube shaped crunchy pastry filled with homemade sweet ricotta, finished with pistachio flakes.

There's few desserts which make me think of Italy, and for me a lemon cake would consistently be in my top 2 or 3 sweet Italian dishes, as I must be the only person on Earth who isn’t a Tiramisu fan, despite their recent resurgence.  Sicilian NQ's Lemon Cake had a fragrant lemon sponge cake, finished with a light lemon glaze and topped with slices of candied lemon.  Zingy and fresh, with the burst of acidity ending off the meal well.

So it's easy to see why Sicilian NQ has become such a favourite.  It's a menu of crowd pleasing classics, service is wonderfully warm, the venue itself is super cozy and homely in feel, plus much of the menu is vege/vegan friendly too which add a bit of a niche to the offering.

** Our experience was gratefully comped **