Remember Camden landmark, Café Delancey? Well meet the new incumbent, Caponta. The Sicilian Ristorante, Osteria and Bar is run by a family team of brothers and sisters-in-law. But not content with simply feeding their patrons, they have also launched The Forge, a brand new, purpose-built music and arts space next door.

The first floor restaurant has a sleek and modern Scandinavian look, flooded with natural light via a glassed-over faux courtyard. Retractable partitions open up the Forge's performance area to a shared courtyard, allowing sounds to spread throughout Caponata. There's live music on Tuesday and Sunday and throughout the rest of the week The Forge promotes some of the country's finest musicians from classical to jazz and world to folk.

The menu reflects Sicily's sophisticated and eclectic heritage, combining Arab, Spanish, French and Greek techniques with simple ingredients. Under Head Chef Danilo Barbagallo, signature dishes include Chargrilled calf’s liver with chestnut mash and grape sauce and desserts of Mango ‘Ravioli’ filled with saffron and orange and served with chocolate gelato. The downstairs Osteria is a more informal bar-café featuring aperitivo style snacks plus gelaterie and patisserie from Luigi Manganiello, formerly of the two Michelin star San Domenico in Imola, Italy.

Over in Charlotte Street, fellow country man, Santino Busciglio, has just launched Mennula (almond to you and me) on the former site of Passione, together with business Joe Martorana. The friends are both from the Sicilian city of Cianciana which celebrates the first blossoming almonds of the early spring with a month long festival – hence the name!

Hailing from Number Twelve in Bloomsbury and Volt in Victoria, Mennula marks Busciglio's first independent venture. The cuisine is contemporary Italian with a strong Sicilian influence and typical dishes include Smoked venison with broccoli and balsamic onions, Sea bass ravioli with pumpkin, chilli and razor clams, Belly of pork with polenta, savoy cabbage and apple chutney and, of course, traditional Sicilian cannoli filled with sweet ewes' milk ricotta.

An exclusively Italian wine list devised by consultant Antonio Cerilli starts at a bargain £13.40 a bottle with numerous options by the 375ml carafe from £6.70. And with a policy restricting excessive mark-ups, particularly at the premium end of the list, this is certainly a welcome nod to the times.

It's these notable extra touches that set the Sicilians apart from the erstwhile tenants of their sites. And even if we weren't worried about the contents of their violin cases, we'd still be sold. See you there - back left hand corner...

Caponata & The Forge, 3-7 Delancey Street, Camden, London, NW1 7NL www.caponatacamden.co.uk
Mennula, 10 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PH www.mennula.com