La Sicilia

Walk into La Sicilia and you're immediately transported south of Naples. The room buzzes with the sort of easy confidence that comes from knowing exactly what you're doing — this isn't trying-too-hard Italian, it's the real thing. You'll find yourself ordering more than you planned: maybe arancini that taste like they've travelled straight from a Palermo street market, then pasta that's been rolled and shaped by hand that morning. The seafood is where things get particularly good — fresh enough that you can taste the sea, cooked with enough restraint that nothing overshadows it. Service staff know their stuff without being pompous about it, and at these prices (mains around £14-18), you're getting proper value for genuinely skilled cooking.