6one
New restaurant well worth trying out
Try finding a restaurant that opened a few days ago, and no one knows where it is. This was my challenge, as it had been recommended that I try ‘The One’. Well, I was in luck as I found it and now I shall tell you. It’s at the end of 28th October Street in Engomi, near the showground, only it’s not ‘The One’, it’s ‘61’ but spelt ‘6one’. Now that’s out of the way we can concentrate on the ambience and the food.
This establishment is big, open and glitzy. I would describe the decor as Cunardesque; spectacular crystal drop lighting set in a waved ceiling. The seating comprises high-back black leather and balloon salon monographed chairs. The tables are satin surfaced gold metal over wooden frames. Great care has been taken over the choice of glass, cutlery and porcelain; everything in this area pleases.
We have arrived early but two tables are already occupied, the nearest to us is discussing which port they should order. The staff are attentive and quick; menu arrives, drinks are ordered, menu perused. The management claim to use the simplest and freshest ingredients in combination with their talent to present a wide variety of Mediterranean dishes. We shall see.
The starters are intriguing, they change every day and because of that, do not appear on the menu. The waiter merely asks if you want a starter, then he tells you what it will be; rather clever. We go for it. A rectangular tray containing four small dishes arrives accompanied by another small dish upon which sits a small vol-au-vent. It was at this stage that we noticed the ‘amuse-bouche’ hiding in the centre of the table; a nice touch.
The little dishes were a mixture of pastry, chopped vegetables, such as artichoke, prawns, pat? and hiromeri, the latter (a traditional village dish of smoked pork) was cut a little too thickly for my taste. The surprise was that this was followed by a plate of the most exquisite asparagus soup – all in for £4.25, the soup alone was worth it.
Passing to the main body of the menu one was struck by its Spartan simplicity, apparently all dishes are grilled over an oven which is fuelled by coconut wood, and instead of the usual thicket of 20 different ways of cooking chicken, we are presented with a choice of nine meat dishes, two fish, two pasta and three salads. The meat dishes are mainly Argentinian grilled steaks, tenderloin, entrecote, rib eye, ‘diane’, pepper etc., there is a marinated half-chicken done in coconut milk, mango and coriander. The sauces and dressings include onion marmalade, creamed mushroom and rocquefort cheese. All these dishes come with fresh steamed vegetables, field mushrooms and provencal tomatoes.
Madame ordered the entrecote and I went for the beef and prawn. On taking the order the waiter referred to the extremely extensive wine list; a lad could get into trouble here. If the country makes wine it’s on the list. The manager took me to the cellar – France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Portugal, Chile, Australia, America and, of course, Cyprus. I found Italian wines on the list that were cheaper than Cypriot, how come? The Montepulciano grape went perfectly with the steaks, the Italian part of my companion certainly approved. My steak was cooked to perfection but my companion’s was not as rare as she would have liked. I believe this is a general fault in our chefs, they wish to protect their customers from what most people view as uncooked meat, however, if that’s how the customer likes it, that’s how it should be done. The vegetables were exactly as described although I think one brassica is enough, do we really want cauliflower and broccoli? I have never eaten prawns with steak before, but I certainly will in future. Did I mention the portions are large? Will we have a sweet? Only one of us will. The sweet menu is pure hedonism; let me introduce you to the first item: Trio of chocolate and cardomum, cr?me brule and milk chocolate mousse on a chocolate tarte Grenobloise; how about that for starters? We don’t have enough paper to describe every sweet, but they include orange cream caramel; poached pears; baked apple (when did you last see one of those?), fruit and a cheese platter. Coffees and a good selection of teas are also available.
We arrived at 8pm on a Tuesday and by the time we left it was three-quarters full, for an establishment that had opened 10 days previously this was pretty impressive. It’s not cheap, but it is very good; in my opinion there are very few restaurants in Nicosia to challenge 6one. Give it a try.
WHERE 61, 28th October Street, Engomi
SPECIALITY Grills
PRICE Main courses from £9.50
CONTACT 22
