Six by Nico "The Chippie"

After the long interruption of the COVID pandemic, a return to BTNDC felt worth marking with a menu that understood the pleasure of looking backwards. Six by Nico’s “The Chippie” at Canary Wharf takes the familiar grammar of a British chip shop and gives it the full tasting-menu treatment. The premise is knowingly playful, but the evening is not a joke at the diner’s expense. It is built around recognition: the pleasure of seeing a familiar seaside idea arrive in a form that has been carefully considered.

The six courses move through chip-shop classics with a light touch. Chips and cheese, scampi, steak pie and a deep-fried Mars Bar all appear as part of the menu’s affectionate reimagining. There is a clear sense of theatre in the transformations, yet the theme remains legible; the fun depends on remembering what these things are meant to evoke. Six by Nico understands that nostalgia works best when it is shared, and the format gives the table plenty to talk about as each course arrives.

This was our return to the site after the pandemic, and the Chippie menu made the occasion feel appropriately generous. It is not trying to be a definitive account of British seaside food, nor does it need to. The appeal lies in the energy of the idea, the discipline of the six-course structure and the small surprise of a familiar pleasure made more polished than expected. At 39.5, it is a cheerful, neatly executed tasting menu with enough personality to make the format sing.