Six By Nico's new Amalfi Coast menu has launched, but is it any good?
The high-concept restaurant that only serves a rotating six-course tasting menu based on a theme has recently opened in Oxford and is soon to open in Bristol making it available just a short drive away from Swindon.
I travelled to the rooftop of Westgate Shopping Centre for its grand opening menu 'The Chippie' and absolutely loved it, so thought I would go and try out its new menu based on the southern Italian coast.
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While the food itself was delicious, and I'll go into more detail on that later, I must say that I didn't connect with the Amalfi Coast as a theme as I did with 'The Chippie'.
Read Also: Six by Nico Review: Fish and chips and deep fried Mars Bars with a twist
The restaurant's inaugural launch menu was fun and dynamic, turning traditional fish and chips into a fine dining experience in imaginative ways, whereas The Amalfi Coast was a lot harder to recognise and appreciate - it was, in my opinion, just high-quality good food.
(Image: Newsquest) And with that food, Six By Nico straddles the line between affordability and the fine dining experience that is slightly lacking in Swindon at £50, with £30 for the matching wine pairings.
It started with Parmesan Polenta, which was a rich-tasting and earthy mushroom ragout sitting underneath a cheese sauce, and followed up with Heirloom Tomato, a breezy and palate-cleansing salad dish with green olive tapenade, salted lemon, lovage emulsion and whipped ricotta.
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You can't have an Italian-themed menu and not have some pasta or fish, so they were up next, with Spaghetti Nero and Black Pollock. The former was cheesy with a kick of chilli and the latter was perfectly prepared and flaky.
A Trio of Pork was next, offering pork belly, pancetta jam and nduja cannelloni with an accompanying smoked onion and pickled summer squash, which was possibly my favourite dish (although they are all good)
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I opted for the additional king prawn accompaniment as well, which was brilliant, but a weird choice to add with the pork dish and not the fish dish that came before it, as the flavours didn't complement each other.
The dessert course was a Delizia Al Lemon which was a tangy and delightful way to cap off the meal.
(Image: Newsquest) As I said, it was a collection of perfectly put-together and delicious dishes that certainly didn't disappoint or leave me wanting more, but I wasn't as impressed as I was with the previous 'The Chippie' menu.
I think this was partly because I've never been to the Amalfi Coast, so have no idea what type of food you'd likely encounter there, so couldn't bring my own experience to it, whereas everyone has had a fish and chips and everyone can appreciate the brilliance of an Irn Bru sorbet.
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I also found that there were lots of similarities between the core elements of both menus - there was a cheese sauce starter, a fish and a pork trio dish in both - which does make me worry that after a while the novelty might wear off over consecutive menus.
But I am nitpicking slightly as I was still extremely happy with my meal, and still left, as I did the first time, excited about what Six By Nico might do next thanks to the genius rotating menu concept that means you have to keep going back again and again.
And on the strength of my first two visits, I'll certainly be going back as many times as I can.
The Amalfi Coast six-course menu and four-course lunch menu will be available at Six by Nico Oxford until Sunday, August 11.
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