Six By Nico, the restaurant loved for its affordable tasting menus, is bringing back a firm fan favourite – The Chippie.
Inspired by the humble chippy tea, this six-course feast consists of re-imagined chip shop classics, from a deep-fried Mars bar to a steak pie.
And it’s properly accessible, with the full tasting menu costing only £42, with the option to enjoy an expertly selected drink pairing with a £33 supplement.
As Six By Nico changes its menus every six weeks at all of its restaurants (there are two in Manchester city centre alone), the chance to catch The Chippie again is not one you want to miss.
This particular menu first debuted in 2017 and always has people rushing back to the restaurant.
The Chippie begins with a creative take on chips and cheese (parmesan espuma, curry oil and emulsion and crisp potato terrine), followed by scampi (with brandade, dill emulsion, gribiche, peas and beurre blanc).
Six By Nico has brought back The Chippie tasting menu. Credit: The Manc Group
The Steak Pie course is made with 24-hour beef shin, burnt onion ketchup, mushroom duxelles and ‘meaty salsa’.
For course four, guests will enjoy Fish Supper, combining scrabster coley, pickled mussels, confit fennel, samphire and a beef emulsion.
This is followed by Smoked Sausage for course five, with a trio of pork, apple, crispy crackling, salt baked celeriac and choucroute.
And then comes the most novelty of all the courses, the deep fried Mars Bar, which is a little fancier than you’d find from a chippy and comes with chocolate pave and Irn Bru sorbet (Six By Nico has Scottish roots, if you hadn’t worked that out at this point).
Six By Nico has brought back The Chippie tasting menu
There’s a vegetarian version of the tasting menu too, featuring root vegetable pie, cauliflower beignet, and halloumi with confit fennel, samphire, house sauce and beer scraps.
Each course has an optional themed wine pairing, featuring crisp whites, bold reds and sweet dessert wine, and you can add on an aperitif like the Sea Side Spritz (lemon, Early Grey, prosecco and samphire) or the Dirty Chippie Martini (… with added gherkin).
There are also snacks you can add on, like sourdough with shellfish butter (£5) or a black pudding scotch egg (£9).
The Chippie experience will be available until 26 June at Six by Nico Spring Gardens. Book your table here.
Hit theatre production set at a house party to visit Manchester on UK tour
Daisy Jackson
Alright then, 24 hour party people, we’ve found a theatre production you might like the sound of – it’s called The House Party, and it’s set in (you guessed it) a house party.
This smash hit production by pioneering theatre company Headlong is set to land at HOME in March as part of the arts venue’s 2025 theatre season.
It tells the tale of a wild 18th birthday party, where Christine is trying to pick up the pieces of her best friend, a newly-dumped Julie (who happens to be the birthday girl).
Themes of class, power and privilege are all explored with a raw intensity as the cast on stage plough through shots and dive head-first into a night that will change everything they know.
The House Party, which has received glowing reviews from previous showings, is filled with ‘privilege, desire and destruction’.
When it stops off in Manchester, its cast will include Bridgerton’s Sesley Hope as Christine, Synnøve Karlsen (Miss Austen, Last Night in Soho) as Julie, and Tom Lewis (Gentleman Jack, Patience) as Jon.
The ensemble of Frantic Assembly performers includes Ines Aresti, Oliver Baines, Cal Connor, Micah Corbin-Powell, Rachael Leonce, Jaheem Pinder and Jamie Randall.
The House Party is written by Laura Lomas and is a reimagining of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie for today’s generation.
It’s directed by Headlong’s artistic director Holly Race Roughan, who directed the Royal Shakespeare Company’s world premiere of David Edgar’s major new political play The New Real.
The House Party. Credit: Ikin YumThe production will be at HOME. Credit: Supplied
Movement direction will come from Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham.
Prior to the UK tour of The House Party, Headlong celebrated its 50 year anniversary, including the hit production of A Raisin in the Sun which played nationwide.
The House Party will be at HOME in Manchester between 25 and 29 March, 2025 – you can get your tickets HERE.
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff
Daisy Jackson
If you’re not a handy person, when something breaks, the temptation is often to abandon or bin it straight away.
But that’s just not how we’re gonna do it here in Greater Manchester any more, with the return of the annual Repair Week to help you learn valuable repair skills and save money at the same time.
Whether it’s tinkering with your bicycle, fixing up your small tech items, or having your furniture re-varnished and upcycled, there are so many places and people who are on a mission to help you fall back in love with your belongings.
There are even workshops to help you put flat-pack furniture together.
Taking place between 3 and 9 March, Repair Week will be the chance to learn skills, fix your stuff, gain repair confidence and find local fixers.
Events throughout the week (and beyond) will be hosted by community groups, businesses and plenty more.
You can sharpen knives, fix zips, and un-wobble chairs with a little hand from local repair heroes.
JillyGDesign Jewellery in Heaton Moor will fix up your sentimental and special jewellery items, while Rag Revival will help you turn unusable textiles into new creations with basic sewing skills.
There are repair cafes popping up all over Greater Manchester where you can take your belongings.
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff. Credit: Supplied
Repair Week will highlight schemes like the Manchester Library of Things, where you can borrow the tools and equipment you need for those repair jobs at home.
During the week you’ll also be able to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the incredible Renew Hub, the UK’s biggest reuse hub, where donated items are brought back to life.
Similarly, you’ll be able to get inside the textile recycling centre run by homelessness charity Emmaus Bolton, where you can choose your own fabric from the scrap store and turn it into a very handy draught excluder to keep costs down and your heat in.
Recycle for Greater Manchester’s Repair Week will take place between 3 and 9 March, with workshops, events and resources to help you revive your belongings.
Daisy Jackson -
30th May 2024 
