Don’t get me wrong, I love a good tasting menu or a spot of fine dining, but I’d be lying if I said it was my go-to style of cuisine. My food of choice tends to be on the dirtier side. Fried chicken, burgers, pizza, and nachos are all staples of my weekend diet, and they must come loaded with all the calorific toppings.
For that reason, Six by Nico’s Guilty Pleasures menu was pretty much designed for me. The first of their new ‘versus’ concept, which sees two different menus go head to head over the usual six-week period, Guilty Pleasures ends on 1st September. Their all-new Tokyo offering begins on 2nd September and runs for three weeks until the 22nd.
The Guilty Pleasures menu cleverly reimagines all those naughty but nice dishes that few of us can resist. We skipped the add-on snacks, but I did order the Salted Caramel Old Fashioned which was just the right balance of sweet and boozy.
Course one offers up an interesting spin on the Breakfast Muffin’, and consists of a Salsiccia bon bon, hash brown, aged Cheddar Royale, truffle emulsion and egg yolk jam. The Italian sausage meat in the bon bon was delicious and marries well with the egg jam and subtle truffle aftertaste. An excellent start.
Prior to the arrival of the second course, the wine flight began with the medium-bodied Baglio Sicano Grillo, a subtly sweet and quaffable wine from Sicily. This paired nicely with the Loaded Potato Skin, a Lyonnaise potato terrine which arrives with smoked bacon jam, chive emulsion and whipped creme fraiche. A solid dish, but nothing remarkable in comparison to what was coming next.
The third course allows guests to choose between two dishes, the first being an aged beef tartare ‘cheeseburger’ complemented with house burger sauce, dill pickle, parmesan and beer battered cornichon. This was a standout dish for me, with the tartare and Big Mac-esque burger sauce marrying together perfectly.
This was accompanied by a bold and peppery Cabernet Sauvignon from Romania. Across the table, the Mac and Cheese alternative was also going down a storm, arriving with cauliflower couscous, jalapeno gherkin ketchup and pickled raisins.
Next, something a little lighter with the Fish Finger Butty. Consisting of coalfish, a salt and vinegar hash brown, smoked tomato caviar, and toasted brioche polonaise, this course went down a storm with my guest but wasn’t to my personal liking. Once again, the wine was excellent – this time a fresh and fruity white from Puglia.
The final savoury course was a dish straight after my heart – the Nico Fried Chicken. A million miles away from anything you’d expect the Colonel to serve up, this crispy chicken thigh creation tasted even better than it looked. The delicate charred corn was spot on, whilst the black garlic emulsion and chicken jus gras brought all the flavours together.
We both opted for the add-on dish here, which was a more traditional take on fried chicken. Smothered in Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, this generous serving comes with an irresistible gorgonzola royale and some pickled celery.
Served with yet another excellent red, this time the Argentinian Les Passeurs De Vins Malbec, this was when I realised that this had been my favourite Six by Nico menu to date. This thought was solidified with the arrival of our dessert – Warm Cookie Dough.
The red velvet coloured hazelnut and chocolate cookie was deliciously doughy and came topped with summer raspberry and a side serving of caramel cremeux and vanilla espuma. The Les Marmandais Grains de Plaisir dessert wine from South-West France again only made this dreamy dish better.
Final Verdict
Six by Nico has delivered a stellar tasting menu, that once again taps into popular dishes in a way you’d never expect. The service was pitch perfect as per usual, and the wine pairings were also best in class. A high recommendation from us and a sign that this joint is showing no signs of slowing down as it edges towards its second birthday in Leeds.
Six by Nico, 9 East Parade, Leeds, LS1 2AJ. Book their Tokyo menu early here to avoid disappointment.
Review and photography by Fletch.