MY favourite Frankie Boyle joke goes: “Las Vegas and Glasgow have a lot in common. They’re the only two places in the world where you can pay for sex with chips.”
Hard to resist then cheekily nicknaming Glaswegian chef Nico Simeone’s high profile restaurant arrival ‘Sex by Nico’ when for his first time in Manchester he seduces us with a Chippie Tea themed tasting menu.
It has made a conquest already. Unconfirmed reports say 3,000 reservations had been made even before Six By Nico opened on Monday, July 15. The concept of keenly priced six course tasting menus (just £28), changing theme every six weeks, each based on place or memory, has proved hugely popular in his native Scotland.
We suspect it will be no different in the former Roc n Rye site, given a radical new, slightly tarty look.
Currently the theme at his three other Six by Nicos – in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast – is Thai Street Food, but ‘Chippie Tea’ was in the vanguard when Belfast was launched this spring. The second six weeks window in that city was themed around ‘Childhood’ with takes on fish fingers and eggs and soldiers. Watch this space.
Back when the Glasgow original arrived early in 2017 – you guessed it, with the same chippie menu – the doyenne of Scottish critics Joanna Blythman lamented it referencing the deep-fat fryer so much, however playfully.
That set the alarm bells ringing for this humbler scribe, utterly jaded with the avalanche of arancini, Scotch eggs and fried chicken across Manchester’s identikit bars.
Thankfully, the skills honed in some top Michelin kitchens come into play and lift the experience big time at Six. Nico’s deconstructions of chip shop favourites are not going to harden your arteries any time soon. The parade of dishes is actually quite thought provoking as you might expect from a chef who has worked in some top Michelin establishments. Above, he heads up the open kitchen for the soft launch.
‘The Chippie’ menu includes Chips and cheese – Parmesan espuma, curry oil/salt and vinegar potato croquette; Scampi – monkfish cheeks, pea emulsion, herb butter sauce and gribiche; Steak pie – beef shin, burnt onion ketchup, mushroom duxelles and red wine; Fish supper – cod, confit fennel, samphire, beer pickled mussels, brandade; Smoked sausage – pork belly, salt baked celeriac, caramelised apple, black pudding; and finally Deep-fried Mars Bar – caramelia chocolate mousse, orange sorbet and cocoa nib.
Intriguingly there’s a salt and vinegar trail across the savouries, where there’s usually a lot going on on the plate. Steak ‘Pie’ was my favourite dish, closely followed by the fish supper, complete with scraps. Nico is a former Scottish Young Seafood Chef of the Year.
Oh and the Deep-fried Mars Bar is a delicious deconstruction – a little ball of mousse wrapped in light batter, matched with an orange sorbet and honeycomb, a far remove from the legendary Glasgie grease bomb.
So I enjoyed it against the odds (and £25 for a matching wine flight adds to the great value). Still, I’ll be holding out for ‘Nico Goes To Tokyo’ or ‘Nico’s Noma Forage’ . Thai Street Food looks like a walk on the fried side, too.
Six By Nico (A Story Every Six Weeks), 60 Spring Gardens, Manchester M2 2BQ. Diners can book a table now for 'The Chippie', which runs from Sunday July 14- Sunday August 18. Open from midday, Tuesday through to Sunday, each six-course menu will be available from noon to night. £28 a head with an optional wine pairing for an additional £25.