Six by Nico Leeds in Leeds

A six-course menu that gets torn up every six weeks

Most kitchens build a reputation on one signature dish. Six by Nico built one on deleting the menu. Every six weeks the whole tasting menu is retired and rewritten around a new theme — a city, a childhood memory, a piece of pop culture. Regulars book by the calendar rather than by appetite.

The Concept · The Story

The format belongs to Glasgow chef Nico Simeone, who tested it at his debut restaurant, 111 by Nico, before opening the first Six by Nico in Finnieston in 2017. Leeds arrived in July 2023 as the group’s first Yorkshire site, in a Grade II listed building in the city centre, and opened with “The Chippie” — a menu drawn from Simeone’s own family history in Scottish chip shops. Since then the themes have run from Lost in Paris and Seoul to Hollywood, Circus and New York.

What to Order

One decision at the table: the six-course menu or its vegetarian counterpart — a vegetarian alternative for every course, rewritten with each concept: cauliflower beignet in place of scampi, halloumi in place of coley. The opening Chippie run showed how the trick works: a black pudding Scotch egg, chips under cheese espuma, scampi with brandade, a steak pie built on slow-cooked beef shin, breaded coley, and a molten chocolate sphere that is a deep-fried Mars bar with its manners fixed. The wine flight is worth adding: the group imports its own bottles, so part of the pairing is poured nowhere else in Leeds.

The Space

The ground floor is a proper bar — art deco with a 1920s New York accent — and Leeds was only the third address in the group to get one. Dinner happens upstairs: parquet, teal panelling, marble tabletops, leather seating and around 72 covers arranged so the open kitchen stays in view. Tables sit close and a full room gets loud — good for a birthday or an after-work group, less so for a quiet negotiation.

Good to Know

Do I need to book in advance? Yes — each theme runs a fixed six-week window, and popular concepts fill their evening sittings well before it ends.

Is there a vegetarian menu? Yes: a full vegetarian version of all six courses, changing with the theme.

Can allergies and dietary requirements be accommodated? Yes, if you flag them when booking; the kitchen reworks individual courses instead of removing them.

How long should I set aside? Around two hours for the six courses, a little more with a larger table.

Is it a good first tasting menu? Yes — every course is explained along with the idea behind it, and the format is deliberately unstuffy.

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