Six By Nico
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IF EVER there was a time for comfort food, I’m fairly sure this is it. If solace lies as nearby as the cupboard or, better yet, can appear at your door safely and responsibly, it seems pointless right now to let it pass you by.
But what is comfort food? There’s no wrong answer, and there are as many responses as people who give them. So we turn to a perfectly acceptable source for the sort of wafer-thin research fluff like this demands – the ‘comfort food’ Wikipedia page.
“Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterised by its high caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual, or it may apply to a specific culture.” So, anything then.
Further down the page an alphabetically ordered, regionally organised list of examples takes you from Afghan aushak (a sort of dumpling) to United States-ian tuna casserole (really).
The British entry (there isn’t one for Ireland – quick, we need a outraged politician to save our human rights) includes much of what you’d expect of food culture in this neck of the woods.
There are pies, soups and stews, things on toast, other things with cheese melted over them, and puddings whose unit of measure is a bowlful. There’s also – proving Wikipedia’s credibility instantly – roast chicken.
The first ‘Home By Nico’ pack from Belfast city centre restaurant Six By Nico knows what it’s doing. The centrepiece is a chicken, packed with butter and ready for the oven. There’s a potato gratin that looks like a cheese delivery system. There’s a sponge with custard. There’s a big block of cheese.
The themed tasting menus of the Scottish import’s normal operation it ain’t, but those menus have one thing in common – whatever memory, idea or place they’re trying to invoke, comfort is at their centre. Now it’s in a massive cardboard box in my kitchen.
Noble in Hollywood has been offering a similar service, everything boxed up and ready for collection before finishing off at home, while more restaurants that don’t fit the classic takeaway/delivery model (ie, a bit fancy) are exploring how to get a version of their food to customers.
Six By Nico’s effort is for four people and cost £80 plus £3 delivery to anywhere within five miles of their Waring Street location. This week they started a contactless collection service.
It would make a serious treat for four – there’s a bottle of wine in there too – though our household of two managed nicely with generous leftovers.
Everything that needs cooked goes straight into the oven in the tray it comes in, bar the hazelnut and orange custard, which needs gently – if you stop stirring you’re guaranteed scrambled eggs – heated in a pan, and is the only thing there’s not enough of.
The chicken comes with a layer of herbed butter under the skin and the instructions of 45 minutes in the oven followed by 20 minutes of resting feel, well, a little undercooked.
But everyone’s oven is different and I end up leaving it in for an extra 10 minutes which, combined with that resting, makes for a perfect bird.
The quality of ingredients is obvious. Any compromises that may have been made in getting it ready for a ham-fisted galoot like myself to shove in the oven haven’t carried through to the produce.
The chicken is full of flavour, as are the thyme-flecked mix of carrot, parsnip, turnip and beetroot, and the gratin is the best thing in the whole box. None of that survives to the following day.
A slab of focaccia is shot through with fennel, while the nominal starter – it could easily do a lunch if you want – is flaky sweet potato pithiviers, little puff pastry pies stuffed with feta and spinach too, and mixed leaves with a herb-heavy yogurt dressing.
The sponge is soft and sweet, and would have loved a bit more of that fragrant custard.
The last of everything was polished off last night – the remnants of the cheese course: a luxurious, creamy cow’s milk Triple Rose from Ballylisk in Armagh. Instant comfort. Just when it’s needed.
THE BILL
Home By Nico Experience £80
Delivery £3
Total £83
