Six by Nico was the busiest restaurant on Charlotte Street in London on a recent Saturday night, and the people at the front desk – you couldn’t really call them receptionists or even a maître d’, because the vibe here is much, much less structured than that – were fobbing off hopeful walk-ins by the dozen. Those who had already been disappointed stood outside in huddles, hungry and seemingly without a plan. Still, the fact that this street is hectic again after the past 18 months is a good news story. In the very nadir of last winter’s lockdown, Charlotte Street became a name I thought carefully about bringing up whenever I was discussing “the state of where we are” with food industry sorts. The truth was too brutal. Many of them hadn’t witnessed first-hand how this once-twinkly, charming thoroughfare, popular with Londoners as well as tourists, was now desolate, boarded-up, bin bag-laden and a sort of Spaghetti Junction for Fitzrovia’s foxes.
In this light, the much-loved, now closed Elena’s L’Etoile didn’t feel so much like another era, but almost fictitious. This hospitality institution and shameless celeb haunt lived at number 30, in various guises, for almost 100 years, and the tiny yet mighty Elena Salvoni ran the floor with abundant old-school dignity. I’m not entirely sure anyone ate at Elena’s solely for the food, although signed photos of the likes of Gene Wilder and Ella Fitzgerald pointed towards the fact that they’d been made to feel special and valued. Earlier this year, however, as Charlotte Street sat punch-drunk, shutters down and tables up, it felt as if we’d never see those heady days again.
So it was cheering, 10 months later, to find Six By Nico almost directly opposite the old Elena’s site not just open, but way oversubscribed. The less fortunate news, which I’d realise over the ensuing 70 minutes, was that I actually had a reservation. If this is the future of hospitality, I’m going to retrain as a plumber. Chef Nico Simeone’s “concept” – a themed set six-course 30-something-quid menu that changes every six weeks – has been a huge hit in several cities since it launched in Glasgow in 2017; there are now eight branches across Liverpool, Edinburgh, Belfast, Manchester, London and, most recently, Dublin.
Those themed menus so far have featured the likes of “The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party”, “Guilty Pleasures”, “The Orient Express” and, on the week I visited, “Paris”, apparently (next week sees them launch the latest theme, “A Miracle on … ”). But apart from writing the word “Paris” on the menu, there seemed to have been no further thought put into delivering any sort of Parisian experience.
Six By Nico is a hangar-sized, terrifically noisy bun fight in what feels a bit like a neglected All Bar One, with the occasional haphazard attempts at small-plates fine dining being thrust on your table without fanfare. On top of that, the area around the table we were placed at smelled distinctly unpleasant, the downstairs bathrooms reminded me of those in a 2am nightclub, as did the noise levels in the place as a whole. It’s easy to work out why diners are attracted here, because this is fine dining at Pizza Express prices for a generation raised on nonstop MasterChef and other television cookery shows. Why anyone would return a second time is less obvious.
The smell and the shouting aside, the “Paris” menu ranged from quite decent to posh aeroplane food, and with small portions, so at least you could be done and get back out into the fresh air mercifully sharpish. First up, caramelised French onion with a comté foam, then a meaningful glimpse of beef tartare with cured egg yolk, leading on to a squirrel’s bellyful of chestnut velouté with celeriac. All three of these courses shoved together would not have covered a child’s plate. Hake with coco beans and saffron rouille was overcooked and the sauce gelatinous, while the breast of duck was minute, but at least prettily plated on a truffle and puy lentil fricassée with a parsley root puree. Pudding was baked savarin on some pear.
Even so, every single table was full, and a queue of wannabe diners trailed out of the door, eager to throw money in Nico’s general direction. For me, mystified is not quite the word. My coat, when I put it back on, drunk on the prospect of freedom, had a wet arm where it had been trailing off the back of my chair. “Please tell me it’s water,” I said to Charles as we walked to the tube sad and hungry. “It could be wine,” he said helpfully, “but I’m not sure – it’s quite, er, smelly.” I didn’t ask any more questions. I had experienced the new, relaxed, groovy, rule-free, careless face of fine dining, and my main feeling is do it properly, or don’t bother.
• Six by Nico 41 Charlotte Street, London W1, 020-7580 8143. Open all week, noon-9.45pm (last orders). Six-course tasting menu only £37 (matching wine menu £33), plus drinks and service.
• Episode eight of the second series of Grace’s Comfort Eating podcast is released on 14 December. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.
