Six by Nico: We tried new Manchester restaurant on Deansgate and loved the fine dining on a budget

There are few restaurants in Manchester that are so successful they can open a second location a short seven-minute walk away from the first. But that is exactly what Six by Nico has done.

Six by Nico, which has several locations across the UK, positions itself as an ‘affordable’ fine dining experience, offering sophisticated six-course tasting menus that change on a six-week basis. The concept is the brainchild of Nico Simeone, a Glasgow-born chef with experience working at Michelin-starred kitchens. 

The new Six by Nico on John Dalton Street, Deansgate, is the restaurant group’s 15th restaurant in the UK and the second in Manchester. The first, located a few streets away at Spring Gardens, opened in 2019 to great success and has become one of the most popular spots in Manchester. 

What to expect from the new Six by Nico

The 72-cover restaurant, which is decorated in a stylish mix of green, gold and brown furnishings set against ambient lighting, has two seating areas – a glass-fronted bar area that overlooks the street and a dining area around the corner with an open kitchen.

Anyone visiting the new restaurant in the next few weeks will be able to enjoy their six-course Japanese-inspired taster menu, which was developed following a trip to Japan that involved sampling the full range of modern and traditional Japanese cuisine – including a Michelin-star sushi restaurant in a fish market and a late night trip to a Seven Eleven convenience store. 

On arrival, we were offered our choice of aperitifs that included a deliciously sweet rum and melon cocktail garnished with an edible slower and Ginza Spritz that was flavoured with lychee and elderflower. They were not available for the press previews, but guests will also have a choice of additional pre-dinner snacks, including onigiri (£7) and miso broth (£5).

The six-course menu opened with karaage, a Japanese fried chicken garnished with pickled ginger, followed by an inventive tempura enoki mushroom dish, that was dressed with mushroom ketchup and daikon pickle. The third course was a crispy pork and prawn pancake with Japanese mayo, and the fourth was miso sea bass accompanied by an egg-yolk jam. The fifth course, and probably one of my favourites, was a tonkatsu pork with glazed belly, cabbage and pumpkin. The meal ended with white chocolate, strawberry sorbet and matcha cake.

We were fortunate enough to also have the wine pairings with each course and were not disappointed. The wines were well balanced with the flavours of each dish and were expertly explained to us by our waiter. In fact, all the staff at Six by Nico were attentive, very familiar with the dishes and clearly enthusiastic about the food, which definitely adds to the experience. 

Our verdict on the new Six by Nico

At £39 per person, plus an extra £30 if you opt for the wine pairing, this is one of the most reasonably priced tasting menus in Manchester and an ideal spot for a birthday treat or other special occasion. The atmosphere was relaxed, but it still felt like a high end restaurant, the staff were welcoming and the food was delicious.  

There are so many fine-dining restaurants popping up in Manchester, particularly in the Spinningfields area, but they are not always accessible or affordable. Six by Nico stands out among these restaurants as somewhere you can get the fine dining experience without the price tag and pretentiousness.