Food & Drink round-up ft. Wild Turkey, Real Junk Food + The Pen and Pencil

This week’s round-up features someone who knows a thing or two about whisky, plans for a completely up-cycled restaurant, and the ubiquitous ‘new bar/restaurant for the Northern Quarter’ news…

Bourbon Q&A and tasting at Cane & Grain
Following his father, his father’s father, and his father’s father’s father in to the whisky trade has meant that Eddie Russell has a pretty solid grounding in the subject. Son of master distiller Jimmy Russell, who recently celebrated 60 years working at Wild Turkey, Eddie already has 34 of bourbon-making under his own belt – and he plans to impart a small fraction of his knowledge to an audience at Cane & Grain on Monday 10 August. The Wild Turkey range will be available to taste – just to help the information sink in, of course.
Mon 10 Aug, Cane & Grain, 49 -51 Thomas Street, M4 1NA, Tel: 0161 839 7033, £10 – email Rachelk@caneandgrain.co.uk to book, www.facebook.com

Can you help create a restaurant from junk?
That’s the aim of Real Junk Food Project, which recently debuted in Manchester with Disco Soup. It plans to return to The Wonder Inn with a whole restaurant created from donated, up-cycled parts – be they furniture, kitchen equipment and, eventually, the ingredients they’ll be cooking up. On the project’s priority wishlist are: cookers/ovens, wood, a freezer, floor covering, cupboards, tables and old-style kettles, colanders, graters and mixing bowls. If you can spare these – or anything else you think a new restaurant will find useful – read more below and contact the Real Junk Food Project now.
realjunkfoodmanchester.co.uk

Mad Men-inspired opening in the Northern Quarter (pictured)
The Pen and Pencil will open later this month on the corner of Hilton Street and Tariff Street. Inspired by the 1950s steakhouse frequented by the characters of Mad Men, the bar and restaurant will offer breakfast and brunch from 10am daily, including American pancakes and Mexican breakfasts, plus an internationally inspired dinner menu. Its cocktail list will feature a cucumber and sake martini, and Beer in the Bronx – incorporating gin, IPA syrup, pink grapefruit juice and vermouth. The Pen and Pencil is the brainchild of Dan Pollard, owner of The Violet Hour in West Didsbury, and Kevin Connor, who previously ran Dry Bar.
Opens late August, The Pen and Pencil, 57 Hilton Street, M1 2EJ, www.thepenandpencilnq.co.uk, @penandpencilnq