The Finnieston, Glasgow, venue will reopen on 28 February as Sole Club, Simeone’s new elevated chippie and restaurant, following significant investment and a major refurbishment.
On the face of it the site will be a traditional takeaway chippie, but behind a fridge door will hide a 20-seat speakeasy-style fish restaurant.
The new concept is a nod to the chip shops that were run by Simeone’s family, with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and parents all having owned chippies. Simeone’s brother Vito runs Gianni’s in Auchinairn, East Dunbartonshire, the chippie where Simeone first cut his teeth working after school under his mum and dad in the early 2000s.
Sole Club is described as having ‘the inherent DNA of classic fish and chips’ but will elevate certain parts to offer diners something more experiential and experimental. Dishes will be elevated by some of the cheffing techniques used at Six by Nico, and the menu in the restaurant side of the fridge will change on a daily basis depending on what’s caught that day.
Dishes will include monkfish Kiev; an ‘ultimate’ fish finger butty with fennel slaw and tartare sauce (pictured); and a lobster roll with saffron and orange emulsion and shellfish butter, as well as traditional fish and chips.
News of Sole Club was first announced in December.
“Finnieston is special to us, it’s where it all began for Six by Nico,” says the chef.
“When we decided to move to a bigger venue in the Merchant City, it was never a question of giving up the venue; it’s too big a part of our story. But for me, it’s always about ‘what’s next’? How can we take the ethos, thought process, and creativity behind Six by Nico and channel it into a completely new and original concept?”
If successful, Simeone believes Sole Club could follow Six by Nico in scaling across the UK.
“With everything we do, the first goal is how do we get the product and the experience to where we want to be,” he adds. “And then after that it’s how we grow it so more people across the country can experience it.
"I believe in the Sole Club concept and think it can go on to follow in Six by Nico’s footsteps – but first it’s about making Finnieston a success.”
The restaurant will not accept walk-ins for sit-in, with bookings for the venue e released on a month-by-month basis.
