Oversized pastrami sandwiches, bagels, pizza, cheesecake, Porterhouse steak and hot dogs. These are all foods I think of when New York City is mentioned.
I visited the US state nearly a decade ago and couldn’t believe the variety of food available at my finger tips. I remember the 24-inch pizza, the pastrami sandwich at Katz’s Delicatessen and the supersize hot dogs.
My best friend Sam is an avid lover of New York so when she noticed the latest menu hitting Six by Nico Aberdeen was to be themed on the city, my phone lit up with messages. It only took three weeks of diary checking for us to finally book a table.
I’ve been to Nico’s Edinburgh venue and have enjoyed plenty a menu at the Scottish hospitality firm’s Aberdeen base. There’s been some real highs – the chippie launch menu comes to mind – and some questionable dishes, but overall I’ve found that the dining experience is fairly balanced.
This experience was to be a little different.
We’d booked in for an early dinner at the 4.30pm sitting and I could hear the noise of the restaurant from the door. The bar area at the front was quieter, but as we made our way to the dining area at the back, the noise levels grew and all I could see was sequin dresses galore.
Six by Nico Aberdeen
We were seated at one of the semi-booth tables and asked if we had any dietaries, before ordering the Downtown Manhattan aperitif (£8) and some tap water.
On it’s arrival I could see a glace cherry on a stick sunken in the cherry infused rum drink which was made with Cocci vermouth, spiced apple and apple dust.
The drink, albeit short, was delicious and got us off to a flying start. We were keen to try the snack on this menu – corns dogs – but before we got the opportunity to request them our first course arrived.
I explained the situation, but because we’d started our Six by Nico experience, there wasn’t any going back. I suggested that between course one and two, that the snack could maybe be slotted in, which they were fine to accommodate.
The food
First up was the beef burger doughnut with tomato ketchup and American mustard.
It was a good size, a few bites worth and the outer casing was perfectly crisp. Inside the shredded beef lacked sauce so was slightly dry, although we both enjoyed the flavours. More tomato sauce and mustard would have done the trick.
Moving onto the snack, the corn dogs (£7 for two each) – which I have seen on the previous circus menu – were a prawn and sausage ballotine served with red pepper ketchup and saffron emulsion.
They looked the part, with the red ketchup and yellow emulsion drizzled up and down. Pierced with a wooden skewer, I wasn’t really convinced about the ballotine with its spongey texture. Although it was moist and crisp, and a good size for a snack.
I felt Nico missed a trick by not having the sourdough bread (also included in the snack) as a bagel or soft pretzel with whipped butter. With NYC known for its bagels, this would have been a bit different to the usual bread which didn’t seem to add much.
My friend had high hopes for course two, eggs benedict, and was not disappointed. The ham hough deconstructed sandwich was playful and the pickled beetroot cut through the savoury, creamy flavours of the brown butter hollandaise. There was a lot of texture to this dish and the fried ball of ham meat was “perfection.”
It had plenty of crunch to it with a coleslaw on the side, and raw radish, too.
We noticed throughout our experience that a number of different staff had served us. Be that taking our order, serving and reciting the ingredients on the plate, clearing, or just generally moving things along. I’d have loved to have been able to build a little more rapport with the team, but we both found it hard with the little face time we had.
I was nursing my aperitif but Samantha managed to grab someone’s attention to order a cocktail. This didn’t take long to make its way to our table, though.
Course three was our favourite of the savoury offering. Named Little Italy, it reminded me of a cacio e pepe I’d had in Rome. The parmesan espuma on top was delicious. Creamy and cheesy, it was everything you’d want from a pasta dish. There wasn’t too much of it, as it was just enough to coat the pasta in. The hazelnut ragu was also gorgeous.
I noticed on the menu it stated pappardelle, however we got more of a thick spaghetti. The pasta was slightly al dente, as it should have been, and I loved how the nuts and the crispy sage leaves added texture and built up the layers of flavour.
The only thing my friend didn’t eat was the egg yolk jam as she didn’t like the sharper taste, I too wasn’t overly fond of it.
Clam Chowder was up next. Sadly my coley was overdone but my friend’s wasn’t. The clam chowder veloute was excellent and I loved how the potato terrine was crisp on the outside and fluffy inside.
We didn’t get any roasted corn as suggested on the menu.
We’d noticed some smoke around the restaurant and realised, when two plates with glass cloches were put down in front of us, that course five – Chelsea Market – was where smoke was introduced.
Our server removed the cloche which let out the wood smoke, immediately heightening our senses. The glazed pork belly piece was covered in a delicious meaty jus and the onion choucroute (a French sauerkraut) paired beautifully. There was just enough lovage emulsion and the barbecued spring onion and pickled onion balanced out the sweet and fatty number with a little acidity.
The Big Apple dessert was both of our favourites of the night. A fun play on the city that never sleeps’ well-known nickname, the crisp white chocolate casing of the apple gave way to a sweet cheesecake inside. Apple curd was engrossed within it, providing a gooey centre. The oat and pecan granola added the crunch that was missing and finished the meal on a high.
This dish really looked the part with every element edible.
It took a while for us to get our bill, albeit we’d felt dinner service itself had been quite rushed. It took just over an hour and a half for us to complete the six-course tasting menu, and that was including a seventh course of the snacks.
It felt like quite a lot of eating in a shorter window and we refrained from ordering the paired wines having felt quite rushed on previous visits, too.
The verdict
Six by Nico is an excellent addition to Aberdeen’s dining scene. There was a lot of excitement about the venue opening earlier in the year, but the more I visit, the more I think the experience would be even more enjoyable if things just slowed down a little.
Consistency is the aim of the game here, and although I reckon the majority of the sauces etc. are made off-site so every restaurant in the hospitality group serves up the same, there’s still a bit of tweaking required to ensure things don’t differ from plate to plate.
I am completely fine with things missing or being replaced on a menu if issues arise, however, I think it would be more beneficial if staff were able to explain if so, just so diners aren’t left feeling confused.
The concept is certainly fun and keeps you on your toes, but a little more time to savour the meal would be ideal.
Information
Address: Six by Nico, 367 Union Street, Aberdeen AB11 6BT
T: 01224 002555
W: www.sixbynico.co.uk/aberdeen
Price: £126.25 (Total was £114, with a £12.25 service charge added to the final bill). Two tasting menus, two aperitifs, two snacks and a cocktail
Scores:
Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Surrounding: 4/5
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