Food & Drink

Go for the cheap menu, stay for the experience: Six by Nico, reviewed

Go for the cheap menu, stay for the experience - but don't be surprised if you end up leaving a little bit hungry

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 18th November 2021

Tucked away just off King street, Six By Nico seems to be just as busy as it was when it first opened in Manchester two years ago.

Hardly short on hype, the restaurant – known for its themed tasting menus that change every six weeks – is more than half full when we nip in at 4pm on a Monday night, not exactly peak time for dining out in the city.

Filled with young couples on dates, girlfriends catching up, and a handful of older couples on double dates (we wonder if perhaps they’ve lost patience with their own partner), Six By Nico has clearly got no trouble drawing in a crowd.

One key reason, surely, has to be that it is cheap here. Six-courses-for-£32 cheap.

Tasting menus, typically, do not come cheap – packing a dish with flavour, imagination, and quality ingredients generally tends to cost a bit of money. But chef Nico Simeone seems to have worked out a way around it.

ADVERTISEMENT

The menu we’re here to try is called ‘Thai Fusion’ and offers – as you might expect – a selection of Thai-inspired fusion dishes, served with paired wines for the ultimate degustation experience.

We begin with an aperitif – a Mai Tai cocktail, minus its characteristic almond syrup. Technically Polynesian in origin, it’s given a fusion ‘twist’ with added lemongrass and mango.

ADVERTISEMENT

Things kick off properly with a taster of beef massaman. Already a fusion of Thai and Indian-style curries in its own right, it’s made extra ‘fusiony’ here with the help of every chef’s favourite trick: culinary deconstruction.

Melt in the mouth aged beef tartare comes together with massaman emulsion, fermented chilli and crispy potato matchsticks to offer a tiny but delicious morsel that sets the tone for things to come (spoiler, I end up making myself a second dinner when I get home).

Next up is a twist on the spicy and sour Thai soup Tom Yum served with pork cheek that’s falling apart in a good way, and a glass of Hungarian red that tastes more like white wine in a red jacket.

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s not the best Tom Yum I’ve ever had, coming a bit low on the spice factor, but the pork is cooked beautifully.

The pumpkin spring roll ends up being a stand-out favourite – proving big on flavour, albeit small on the plate.

The pumpkin spring roll ends up being a stand-out favourite – proving big on flavour, albeit small on the plate.

The whole thing’s then finished off with a palm sugar delice – combining milk sponge cake with macadamia nuts, lychee and calamansi gel, yoghurt and mango sorbet.

It’s all accompanied by more wine, which ultimately piles up on the side of our table as I discover drinking one glass takes much longer than finishing its accompanying plate.

Selfless as always, my dining partner offers to help me out with some whilst our wonderfully-attentive server quietly whisks the rest away. She’s a good egg.

ADVERTISEMENT

When Six By Nico first opened, there was some well-founded speculation as to how well a restaurant offering taster menus exclusively would fare. In a tricky part of town, where many restaurants (including Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Italian group) have failed before it, it seemed like a bit of a gamble.

Given that you can go around the corner to Rudy’s and stuff yourself silly for under a tenner, I have to wonder – is this good value for money? The answer, I think, is yes – provided you’re going for the experience or perhaps for a special occasion.

Just don’t be surprised if you end up leaving a little bit hungry.

Food & Drink

Inside the underground Manchester noodle bar serving Chinatown’s spiciest scrans

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant noodle alley

Over in Chinatown, there’s a relatively new little noodle bar that’s been making a big, spicy stamp on the city’s dining scene.

Its owner, Wendy Ren, hails from the Chinese province of Sichuan – a region that’s home to giant pandas, traditional Sichuanese opera, and some of the spiciest food going, thanks to its famous Sichuan pepper.

Also known as the Chinese prickly ash, the citrus-like peppercorn leaves a tingly numbness in the mouth and on the lips that you’ll either love or hate.

It’s an acquired taste, by all accounts – but those who love it can’t get enough. In fact, on my visit during a packed-out Wednesday lunch service, Wendy stopped to chat with an Italian family holidaying in Manchester who had been in to eat three days in a row. Now that’s an endorsement if I ever heard one.

She’s opened the restaurant alongside her Cantonese husband, Ken Chen, but the recipes are all hers – and on our visit she laughs with us about how it has taken him some time to get on board with her spicy food, saying: “he found out pretty quickly that he either eats it or he doesn’t eat at all.”

For big fans of spice, this is fast becoming the absolute go-to spot in Chinatown – and for those who aren’t so tough, don’t worry, because Wendy’s put some things on the menu for you too (and possibly, also, for Ken).

Just taking a moment for the hand-rolled pork dumplings with sweet and spicy chilli oil and minced garlic. / Image: The Manc Eats
Noodle Alley is beautifully decked out in red and green with little nods to the famous wide and narrow alleys of Chengdu. / Image: The Manc Eats

Called Noodle Alley, the restaurant is tucked away underground on Faulkner Street and beautifully decked out in red and green with little nods to the famous wide and narrow alleys of Chengdu.

Formerly home to China City, a real old-school Chinatown legacy restaurant, the space has a special place in Wendy’s heart.

She tells me that she and her husband used to come and eat here “all the time” when they first started dating, so the location really means a lot to both of them.

Chinatown restaurants aren’t exactly known for their glamorous interiors, and China City, Wendy jokes, was one such place – with the same old carpet, and the same old tables that had been used for the past twenty years.

Now the space is her own, though, it’s markedly different – lovingly decked out in cheerful colours, with little green windows, hanging lanterns, and bamboo rattan paneling on the walls.

Hand-rolled dumplings stuffed with mince pork on their way to the kitchen at Noodle Alley. / Image: The Manc Eats
The end result – drenched in homemade chilli oil and topped with crispy garlic. / Image: The Manc Eats

Her story of getting into the restaurant business is something of an unusual one. Prior to opening Noodle Alley, she tells me, she spent nearly two decades working at The Marriott Hotel.

After seventeen years of service and the birth of her second child, she asked to go part-time but her request was refused – so she quit the very next day, and began building her own route to independence.

It was during the Covid lockdown, she says, that she really got into cooking group meals – making meals for her friends and spending hours in the kitchen busying away happily over her stove.

A friend with several restaurants in Chinatown suggested she start her own business, and the rest – as they say – is history.

Dan Dan noodles are out, apparently, and Su Jiao Mian are in. / Image: The Manc Eats
Burning noodles with preserved vegetables and crushed peanuts. / Image: The Manc Eats

Dish-wise, her menu spans a mouthwatering selection of dry noodles, soup noodles, street food, and small plates, including the likes of deep-fried wavy potato chips with chilli and Szechuan pepper and steamed beef strips wrapped with chilli paste, numbing Sichuan pepper, and five-spiced rice powder.

Dan Dan noodles, the Sichuan dish we probably all know the best, don’t feature – they’re a bit old news now, apparently, and Wendy has some cooler alternatives for us to try.

Read more: This blink-and-you’ll-miss-it basement restaurant in Manchester’s Chinatown serves the ultimate yum cha feast

One is her Su Jiao Mian, a mixture of minced pork, sesame sauce, and house chilli oil, the other is the Wan Za Mian, a fiery mixture of spices combined with minced pork, soft yellow peas, and more chilli which Wendy says is “one of the most popular noodles in Sichuan.”

Apparently, if you’re eating with the cool kids in Sichuan, you should order this. Not one to argue, I dig in – and it’s safe to say her food is pretty damn exceptional. Almost immediately, I’m planning my next trip back.

ADVERTISEMENT
Two of Noodle Alley’s signature dishes: Steamed beef strips wrapped with five spiced rice powder (back) and ‘saliva chicken’ served cold with special chilli oil, peanuts, and cucumber. / Image: The Manc Eats
Pork knuckle with butter beans in an umami-rich pork bone broth. / Image: The Manc Eats

Other signature dishes here include Wendy’s steamed beef strips, which can be eaten alone or dipped into one of her noodle soups, and a dish of ‘saliva chicken’ – a crunchy, cold, textural dish with steamed chicken, fresh chillis and ribbons of cucumber that sit swimming in a bath of homemade Sichuan chilli oil, so named because it literally makes your mouth water.

We also opt for a dish of pork knuckle with butter beans in an umami-rich pork bone broth. Not one for the faint-hearted, even Wendy seemed a little cautious to recommend this one, but as fans of ‘the weird stuff’ we insist – and it really ends up being a highlight of the meal.

Read more: Top Manchester chef to host special £250 dinner – but vegans aren’t welcome

We end up needing a little help with it. It’s a slippery bugger and I end up wearing a fair bit of the broth. before she returns with a knife and fork to cut it up properly for us.

That broth it’s in, though, is so beautiful I could happily bathe in it. Some might say I did, to be fair. As for the soft, succulent pork meat? When sliced into tiny morsels and dipped into an extra special Sichuan chilli oil she retrieves from the kitchen, is something else entirely.

ADVERTISEMENT

If this is Sichuan heaven, then I’ll happily stay here forever. From plump hand-made dumplings stuffed generously with flavourful pork and drenched in chilli oil, to chicken giblet soup noodles, there’s so much on the menu I will be coming back for.

And for those who really can’t handle the spice, I guess I’ll be recommending the scallion oil noodles with soy sauce and crispy egg. No matter what you order here, I don’t think you can go too wrong.

Featured image – The Manc Eats

Food & Drink

Top Manchester chef to host special £250 dinner – but vegans aren’t welcome

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant adam reid at the french

The French at The Midland Hotel has revealed it will host an exclusive dining experience next month with Hubert de Billy from the esteemed Champagne house Pol Roger – but there won’t be anything on the menu for Manchester’s vegans.

Adam Reid at The French is set to host an exclusive dinner next month as the esteemed chef patron joins forces with one of France’s most luxurious Champagne houses.

Taking place on Friday 6 October, diners will be treated to an indulgent four-course dinner pairing Lancashire lad Adam’s stylish Northern cooking with matching wines.

Due to the specific nature of the vent, however, specific dietary requirements will not be catered to on the evening – so vegans are being warned to stay away.

Wines will be introduced and described by none other than Monsieur de Billy, the fifth generation of the family-owned Champagne house and Pol Roger’s great-great-grandson.

Founded in 1849, Pol Roger is regarded as one of the finest of all the Champagne houses.

Guests will be given the opportunity to taste the prestigious Pol Roger Champagne, a notable favourite of late Prime Minister Winston Churchill, with some snacks on arrival before digging into a sumptuous four-course meal.

At £250 a head, it’s not cheap – but then we are talking about one of Manchester’s most premium restaurants, collaborating with one of France’s most prestigious Champagne houses, so it seems par for the course that you’ll be paying a pretty penny for it.

Starting at 6.30pm, things will kick off with glasses of Champagne and special snacks made by Adam Reid and his team before diners are seated in the plush restaurant for their meal.

Tickets for the event are strictly limited, and due to the nature of this event, specific dietary requirements will not be available to be catered for including vegan and dairy-free diets.

adam reid at the french
Inside Adam Reid at The French, a beautiful space within Manchester’s historic hotel The Midland. / Image: The Manc Eats
the french at the midland
Squid ink crackers topped with whipped roe and pickled red pepper that taste just like patatas bravas. / Image: The Manc Eats

Whilst vegans and dairy-free folk might be feeling a bit left out, for the rest of Manchester it’s an opportunity to dine in one of the city’s most famous restaurants.

For those who don’t know the history of The French, in 1974 it made history as the first Manchester restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star.

Read more: The French at The Midland – the unsung hero of Manchester’s food and drink scene

Back then, it was Chef Gilbert Lefevre at the helm and it really did what it said on the tin – serving opulent plates of escargots, foie gras, and caviar, even committing right down to the menu itself, half of which was printed en français.

The restaurant retained its star for three years, before losing it in 1977, and would go on to have some ups and downs before coming under the stewardship of Simon Rogan in 2013, with its now-Chef Patron Adam Reid working underneath him as Head Chef.

Rogan – already then a proprietor of the Umbel group including L’Enclume, Fera at Claridge’s, and Rogan & Co – famously ended his five-year contract with the hotel two years early after failing to get a Michelin star.

Read more: Northern is recruiting dozens of new train conductors in Greater Manchester – and you don’t even need experience

That same year, local lad Adam took on the top dog role and in 2017 re-positioned the offering to reflect his own style – essentially making everything more relaxed.

the french
‘The warm Northern welcome’ feat. steaming cups of beef tea served alongside Pollen ‘French malt’ bread and thick pats of beefy butter. / Image: The Manc Eats
the french
Roast Cumbrian lamb loin with flavours of Cinderwood Market Garden and warm Lancashire oven bottom muffins. / Image: The Manc Eats

He dropped the complicated place settings, brought in music so that diners no longer feared dropping their forks, introduced a new chef station in the restaurant, and revised the menu to pay homage to his Lancashire roots.

Under his stewardship, The French at The Midland typically serves an 11-course tasting menu featuring dishes inspired by picky teas, miniature cheese and onion pies, and steaming cups of beef tea served alongside Pollen ‘French malt’ bread and thick pats of beefy butter.

This special Pol Roger dinner is a one-off at the restaurant. It marks the beginning of a new chapter at Adam Reid at The French with its chef patron and head chef looking to host more collaborative events going forward.

Featured image – The Manc Eats

More Food & Drink

Eats

Hunting for Manchester’s best kebab with buses and a BIG lunch

Brunch spread at Diggle Lock in Saddleworth

Eats

Diggle Lock – the canal-side Saddleworth cafe serving a world-class brunch

The Cholmondely Arms in Cheshire has been named the best pub in Britain. Credit; Facebook

Cheshire

Pub formerly called a ‘lost cause’ has now been named the best in Britain

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches