Last updated: April 30, 2024
Six Baltic (who have just been awarded 2 AA Rosette status) have had a beautiful refurb which elevates the spacious rooftop restaurant to new heights with a modern design basked in natural sunlight from the panoramic floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
With SIX Baltic’s new interiors comes a fancy new menu with the option of paired wines perfectly matched to each course by the in-house sommelier. The Taste of Six: Land and Sea offers a pleasant balance of fish and meat dishes – each course offering a surprising combo of delicious ingredients.
Dinner begins with the chef’s special – two bite sized tasters with big flavour – we love the mini serving of beef tartare on a potato terrine with an oyster emulsion, like an elevated version of a Sunday roast. The trout tartlet croustade is filled with cured chalkstream trout, with trout roe caviar style on top and the accompanying starter glass of Laurent Perrier Champagne goes down a treat – the bubbles fizzing in the mouth along with the pop of the trout roe.
The milk bread with truffle arrives warm from the open kitchen complete with those divine fresh baked bread aromas. Chainbridge honey and thyme butter in the shape of a Viennese Whirl is suitably sweet and salty and slathers with ease on the bun that I’ve savagely ripped apart in my impatient hungry state!
Portland crab comes next – dressed Dorset crab served on top of a beautiful bisque custard delivering fresh apple and lemon notes with a punchy contrast of horseradish. An almost luminous green ajoblanco is then poured around the crab leaving it completely untouched like a palm tree in the middle of a desert island! Ajoblanco is typically an age old cold Spanish dish made with almonds and I love this take on it. Served with a glass of Seaglass Chardonnay, the lemon and apple notes bring out both the minerality in the crab and the complimenting flavours of the dish.
The main course is my favourite from the tasting menu. This memorable plate of Dexter beef is served two ways – as juicy and perfectly cooked ribeye and also as glazed cheek – falling apart at the touch of the fork. The glossy red wine sauce is beautifully rich and the ‘alliums’ appear to be served as a flavourful creamy paste – a blend of garlic and onions which goes so well with the meat. The accompanying wine – a Mario’s Cabernet Sauvignon offers up ruby red with notes of blackberry and raspberry, oaky and smooth.
Almost full, we still find room to devour a delicious slab of lightly spiced carrot cake decorated with piped cream cheese crusting and pretty yellow petals. Shredded coconut along with mango, pineapple and a scoop of gelato ice cream provide all the contrasting textures and sweet fruity flavours we could want, washed down with a gorgeous glass of Domane Baumgartner Eiswein – a sweet dessert wine with peach and honey notes, made from frozen grapes.
There’s an optional course (additional £15) of Doddington Dairy cheese which we simply can’t fit in, and the prettiest of petit fours are the perfect finish to an incredible meal.
Service is excellent and perfectly timed. You’re left enough time to breathe between courses and just as your tummy tells you you’re ready for the next course, it appears as if by magic. The staff will enthusiastically talk you through both the food and wine, and what I especially loved was the ambience and the space between tables. The new interiors have definitely added to the overall appeal of what we consider one of Newcastle’s best restaurants.
The Taste of Six: Land and Sea menu is available now at Six Baltic priced at £45 for lunch, £54 for dinner and paired wines are £35.
