I always enjoy trying out new places to eat as it can get a little repetitive ending up in the same restaurant time after time. I recently went to Manchester for the day and went to The Pen and Pencil located in the Northern Quarter and was impressed with what was on offer. They have a good range of drinks with a small seating area at and around the bar if you just fancy popping in for a drink or two, whether this is for beer, cider, wine, spirits, cocktails or even a bit of champagne. The food menu contained a few familiar choices with plenty of extras to make the options that little bit different to a standard beef burger and chips. Choices include a range of meals with either brisket, chicken, pork, beef, fish as well as Aubergine and Halloumi if you wanted to a meat-free alternative. A decent list of brunch items, smoothies, and some desserts make up the rest of the menu.
As you can see from the photo above I went for the mix of three sliders with fries, choosing halloumi, chicken and brisket from the selection available which also includes beef, fish and pork. The sliders are a good option if, like me, you can't decide what to go for because there are too many nice things on the menu. I've tried sliders in a few different places and I think I'd go as far as to say these were my favourite. The brisket had plenty of marinade and a great flavour, without any excess fat to it which can sometimes be an issue. My first thought when I picked up the halloumi one was that it would be a bit overwhelming as you got a fair chunk of it inside the bun, however, this wasn't the case. The texture combination of fresh bun with the halloumi actually worked really well. I also went for the chicken slider which has a surprisingly large piece of fried chicken wedged in the bun which had a great taste. I did try some of the beef slider that Laura couldn't finish and enjoyed this too as it was well cooked with just a little bit of colour still in the middle to retain some of the flavour, but this will depend on your personal preference for how you like your meat cooking.
Even though the sliders were much smaller than a typical burger they are quite filling with generous portions of filling in each one, so don't feel like it won't be a sufficient as you'd be wrong. Given they were priced at £10.50 for the three sliders and fries it was definitely value for money. If you are looking for somewhere new to try out to eat or even an alternative to the bar you go to then I'd definitely recommend checking out The Pen and Pencil.
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