Month: August 2018

Another menu, another visit to Six by Nico. This time round a menu inspired by the joyous food of my childhood in the 70s. I was tempted to don my flares and cycle there on my Chopper, but I was wary of being in some freak headline accident, ‘Man gets flares trapped in Chopper chain, falls under lorry’.

Still, it was good to revisit some of the beloved dishes of my childhood although I don’t recall ever having SPAM!

1. SPAM & MASH – Potato Espuma, Smoked Ham Hough, Pickled Mustard Seed
2. PRAWN COCKTAIL – Tiger Prawn, Baby Gem Ketchup, Tomato, Shellfish Marie Rose
3. CHICKEN KIEV – Black Garlic Emulsion, Pea Pesto, Rainbow Radish
4. SALMON TIKKA MASALA – Onion Bhaji, Caramelised Cauliflower, Lime Gel
5. DUCK A L’ORANGE – Confit Duck, Aromatic Carrot, Orange Puree
6. TRIFLE – Summer Berries, Saffron, Almond Sponge, Whipped Creme Fraiche

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Apertifs got us kicked off, and the Harvey Wallbanger certainly hit the mark and then, as always, SNACKS! Beef & Horseradish Vol-Au-Vent got us kicked off with bang, succulent beef in a crisp vol-au-vent with a subtle horseradish paste was a great way to get the palate warmed up, same goes for the Vegetarian option featuring fresh beetroot.

As I say I don’t recall having Spam but if it tasted half as good as the wonderful balanced dish I had last night then my parents will have a lot of questions to answer. A rich and creamy espuma, moist and lightly salty ham, and that pickled mustard seed to give it a little kick, a few spoonfuls of utter delight! Bring back Spam I say!

What’s more 70s than Prawn Cocktail? Well this one had three types of prawn – tempura, garlic and grilled – with a rich shellfish sauce, with some fresh tomato, grilled baby gem leaves and was definitely not the tangy, cloying affair of my youth. All three prawns were perfectly cooked, although the tempura was a little thick (IMO) making it more a battered prawn but still, no bad thing!

Thankfully the next dish did not explode on us, instead this Chicken Kiev oozed out a rich, dark, tangy, garlic-ey emulsion as you cut through it. It’s the kind of sauce you occasionally get that makes you wonder if they’d sell you a bottle of the stuff as it was deliciously more-ish! Fresh pea pesto helped lift the entire plate and keep things light and this was the first dish to bring silence to our table. A delightful little plate of food.

Curry time, and whilst I think there was a missed opportunity to serve this a la TV dinner, what we did get was perfectly cooked salmon, a deconstructed onion bhaji, with spots of lime gel/curd, all sprinkled with caramelised cauliflower florets. The salmon was the star, although perhaps the tikka masala aspect got a bit lost as the smear of sauce didn’t really have the kick I expected. A good dish but not a great one.

There have been quite a few duck dishes at Six by Nico but this one just won top prize! Perfectly prepared confit duck that melted in the mouth, was well accompanied by lightly herbed carrot ribbons, and a zesty but not overpowering orange puree. It’s a 70s classic sure, but this update proves why it was so popular, when you get the balance of flavours right it’s an absolute star of a dish!

And now, for those who know me and my penchant for trifle (at Christmas, I’m not a monster) came the dish that was likely to make or break the entire meal. Served in a tumbler – ohhh how very 70s – this was layer after layer of dessert heaven. From the sugar coated sesame seeds, to the sharp boozy cherry base, each layer provided flavour after flavour. Personally I would’ve liked more of the middle ‘creme’ layers to balance out the boozy cherries, but it’s a minor quibble. I never lost faith in trifle, but now I feel its future is assured!! Thank you Nico!

Overall one of the better menus for sure, and I do feel that Six by Nico is best when they are being bold, delivering big flavours without overwhelming. They more subtle dishes are always good but too many in one menu can start to dilute the overall experience, thankfully The 70s was a very well thought out menu.

What a lovely evening in the company of good friends, great food, wonderful friendly service and, I know I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, at £28 for six courses of wonderful food, plus £5 for an apertif and £5 for snacks (between two) Six by Nico continues to be ridiculously good value for such well prepared and considered food.

Ohhh and maybe they can keep the awesome 70s playlist too!

“I saw this advert in a window that said: ‘Television for sale, £1, volume stuck on full.’ I thought, ‘I can’t turn that down.’”

Do you remember the TV series “Why Don’t You?”. It had a really catchy theme tune, the type that stuck in your brain for the rest of the week, I bet some of you can hear it right now? Sing along!

“Why Don’t You, WHHHyyyy don’t you, Why. Don’t. You… just switch off your television set and go outside and do something less boring instead”.

Ahhh the memories.

It always struck me as odd though, that a TV show was suggesting I should turn off the TV. I know the late 80s were strange times for many of us, but this did seem a oddly self-defeating. If I turn of the TV set every time your programme starts, what’s the point of the programme. Needless to say I didn’t switch off my television set (and not just because no-one called it a ‘television set’) as there was another hour or so of cartoons to digest before my parents would usher me off the sofa and encourage me to go ‘outside’. I’m presuming that the subliminal messaging of Why Don’t You had somehow filtered through into my parents brains, as they clearly believed ‘outside’ was the very definition of “something less boring instead”.

That was then, when the TV had 4 channels (just), when the remote control was me being told to get up and change the channel, back when putting the TV on was an occasion in itself. Those days the weekends and evenings revolved around what time a TV show was on – god forbid you try and talk to my Mother from 7.30pm on a Monday or Wednesday less you disturb Coronation Street – and live broadcasts were watched by everyone lest you missed out and couldn’t join in the chat the next day.

I never bought into the soap operas my Mother seemed to enjoy so much and pointedly, and with no shortage of teenage huffing theatrics, took the same stance as my Father by finding other things to do to keep myself busy. These things were better than watching those rubbishy TV shows and so my inner snob was finally revealed and given license to roam.

Today I remain the TV snob of formative years and take no pleasure in confirming that my Father has slipped and fallen into the grips of the very soap operas he used to noisily fold his newspapers at, purely because it signals that I too can expect a similar stumble, presuming it’s not already begun. How will I know? And will it be Eastenders or Hollyoaks that become my raison d’être.

I say all of this purely as exposition for a confession. Recently I have fallen into the habit of turning on my television set as soon as I get home, channel surfing to see what is on and, almost without fail, finding nothing of interest or stimulation. Hello inner TV snob! I’m not sure why I do this but I’ve decided to justify it by claiming it’s a subconscious act in which my brain is simply testing my capacity to enjoy the latest antics from Albert Square and, so far at least, I remain thankful I am as bemused by the longevity and success of said soap opera.

With an abundance of streaming services available, and the ability to easily schedule series recordings of my favourite shows, it’s rare that I ever watch ‘live’ TV at all these days, and looking at my Twitter feed I know I’m not alone in this. Where as before it took a royal wedding, or Live Aid, or the FA Cup final, to coax us to huddle in front of the TV, now the latest season of our favourite TV show not only makes us huddle but encourages us to camp out. Binge-watch and chill.

On demand TV is perfect for me as I have a tendency to get bored with TV shows, especially these days with so many other things competing for my attention. Equally the ‘wait a week for the next episode’ approach doesn’t really fit with my ever changing social calendar so being able to pick and choose when I watch a show has gotten me back into watching episodic TV. With great choice comes even less responsibility if my ability to get sucked into watching episode after episode of a show whilst the dishes pile up in the sink; did you know you can pour a fresh bowl of cereal, dump some milk in, and get back to your seat all within the ‘The next episode will start in 15 seconds….’ Netflix count down?

Watching TV is a distraction technique, pure and simple. There are always other things I could be doing than dumbly watching another episode of Homeland, or yet another Netflix stand-up comedy special. This guilt goes back to my childhood, my newspaper rustling father, or the go out and do something less boring instead mentality. I need to make it a choice and engage with what I choose to view. It’s no surprise that the bulk of my TV watching tends to be sport as I can let the rising levels of excitement from the commentators guide me on when to pay attention, meaning I’m typically on my laptop, or doing something else, rather than actively watching.

That is, until I get sucked in, that’s when everything flips on its head and instead of being the background noise that stops my flat feeling quite so empty, the TV becomes the only thing that holds my attention. Chores go undone, dishes unwashed, meals are quick and easy and largely just a stream of snacks by that point.

So what do I choose to watch? Do I have any recommendations? Isn’t that what we do now? Not a day goes past without someone mentioning the best new show ever and how you must watch it. How demanding! And when you do watch it and can only provide a mediocre shrugging response, it was ok but not really my thing, you once again show that you are not of this moment, this cultural event is not yours. And then you repeat this over and over again. Tell me, how many shows have you lightly agreed you’ll try and watch, knowing that you probably won’t…? I’m well into double figures now.

I do tend to miss the zeitgeist of such things, Game of Thrones was a few seasons old when I discovered it. Breaking Bad had been out for 18 months before my addiction kicked in, and I’ve yet to be dragged into that show that Ru Paul hosts.

But some shows do land, and most notable for me is my most frequent, current, recommendation, The Good Place. It may have faltered towards the end of season 2 but remains a short, silly, light-hearted feel good show which, in the midst of the tumultuous shit-show that is writ large in the news each day, seems all the more vibrant and important.

What else? The problematic Seinfeld series Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee is the very definition of a guilty pleasure. Rich white guy in self-indulgent show? Yes. Is he out of touch with the current climate? Yes. (The most recent episode with him and Alec Baldwin discussing #metoo is awful). Yet for those awkward moments that seem to lack any self-awareness there are many wonderful moments of hilarity, insight, and again this is a TV show about nothing (see all previous episodes of Seinfeld) which zips past in 20 mins.

I gave up on The Handmaid’s Tale as it is just too relentlessly bleak (but I’ll likely read the book at some point), The Staircase failed to grab me in the first episode (but a rewatch sucked me in). The Defiant Ones, a documentary series looking at the rise and rise of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine (billionaires who sold Beats Headphones to Apple a couple of years ago) was interesting, and I have a whole blog post trying and largely failing to dissect the brilliant Hannah Gadsby piece, Nanette.

Outside of that, a friend has loaned my the boxset of Sports Night (written by Aaron Sorkin) which will sit nicely beside my ongoing rewatch of The West Wing which I’m pacing alongside The West Wing Weekly podcast, which has made it more a dual format affair and has the side joy of a whole host of other TWWW fans to interact with on social media.

As ever, it’s social media that seems to drive a lot of what I consume on TV these days. Seeing that someone in my tribe is watching a show, or raving about a documentary, or sharing interesting quotes from the latest hit drama, always piques my curiosity way more than all the adverts and billboards. The best advert is word of mouth, says the old adage, and these days social media = word of mouth so where else would I get recommendations from??

The flipside of this is both a list of things to watch that would require me to retire a few years ago, and a distinct sense of FOMO and it’s only getting worse and the real kicker is that a lot of the latest greatest TV shows are of increasingly high quality, well written, well produced, slick, smart and engaging. Why wouldn’t you just stay in and watch something more interesting instead?

When the Commonwealth Games finished, 4 years ago, I took with me many fun memories and a real sense of pride in my home city (I wrote about it too). So when the chance to volunteer to help out at another major sporting event being held in Glasgow, I leapt at the chance.

I was offered a role as a T1 driver, which meant I spent the last couple of weeks driving various ‘Presidents of…’ and ‘Executive Directors for…’ around some of the venues being used to host the European Championship events in Glasgow.

Whilst not on the same scale as the Commonwealth Games, given that this was the first year this new ‘Championship’ had taken place, I think we acquitted ourselves pretty damn well! It all went by in a blur, 5am starts each day added to the general ‘zoning out’ effect that I remember from 2014 too; get up, head out, do your shift (0600 to 1630), head home, wash your uniform (1 of 2), eat, sleep, repeat.

Ohh but what fun! I got to meet some lovely people from all over European, got an Italian physiotherapist hooked on the band Honeyblood, chatted about Aston Martins and Porsches with the President of FINA (she wanted to buy a DB9 but they are seen as ostentatious in Germany so she ‘settled’ for a Porsche 911S instead!), and on the whole had a blast. We had a good bunch of volunteers, and I got into most of the venues I visited to watch some of the sport on offer; gymnastics, swimming, diving, synchronised swimming, cycling (road race), and triathlon.

Add in a buzzing George Square and Glasgow Green, and it certainly seemed like the event was a success and I’m so glad I volunteered for it. One visitor did comment that they hadn’t been to Glasgow before but she was delighted that ‘the people really are friendly very much all the time, is good!’ (to be fair, her English was way better than my Italian).

I do hope there are more events of this scale attracted to Glasgow now, there is no doubt we can deliver world class sporting events when we need to and, bar the lack of a dedicated athletic venue, we’ve got everything you could need.

Glasgow Olympic bid for 2028, anyone?