Dust off your eating pants for burger bombs, Cherokee corn cakes and LA grilled octopus
The continued devotion and energy that the team at Pen & Pencil puts into developing their menu, never fails to amaze us. To keep things interesting, the P&P team trial, test and taste various new dishes several times a year.
This time, they’re keen to show off their brand new kitchen team, headed by Chef Karel Lukes, who came up with this new menu.
When they invited Confidential over to see what we thought, there was a stampede towards our favourite Northern Quarter hangout.
Pen & Pencil are arguably most famous for their brunches, where hangover cure meets comfort food, but it’s the care and attention to the ingredients and cooking that keep hungry customers coming back.
The brunch menu is available every day between 10am and 4pm, but now some exciting new additions have joined the expected favourites. Yes, we still love their pancake stacks and eggs a dozen ways, but excellent new additions include Cherokee corn cakes, inspired by the classic North Carolina morning favourite, and the outstanding new breakfast hash – a comforting (and surprisingly vegan) bowl of pinto beans, peppers, potatoes and mushrooms.
Subs have now been subbed in favour of delicious American inspired sandwiches including Philly cheese steak, grilled hot pastrami, and guacamole, egg, bacon ciabatta spiced up with red pepper remoulade.
Main courses range from the healthy to the hearty. Imagination and flair shine through a range of delicious vegan options including beetroot falafel, creamy coconut and chickpea curry, and a fabulous Moroccan inspired lentil stew with spinach and sweet potatoes.
Our pick of the new dishes was LA grilled octopus with wasabi foam, fried lotus root and red tobiko; a stunning and unusual dish - soft, tender and full of flavour. Roast hake was another triumphant fish dish; the tender white fish sits on a gorgeous sauce packed with more veg than the recommended five a day.
But it’s the burgers that remain a firm favourite with customers, which is why Pen and Pencil put so much love and care into their patties. We struggled to choose between the whiskey laced Johnnie Walker burger with Guinness blue cheese sauce, or the classic Pen and Pencil signature burger with bacon and Swiss cheese in a butter-laden brioche bun. In the end, Pen and Pencil proudly (and rightly) insisted we try their submarine burger bomb – a cheese lovers dream with a minced beef ball packed with deliciously oozing Red Leicester cheese.
Pen and Pencil don’t do desserts as such, because customers tend to prefer rounding things off with a cocktail, a heavenly smoothie or a decadent shake, like the Harlem with banana, gingerbread and peanut butter.
So whether your body is a temple requiring replenishing smoothies and plant-based nourishment, or because your ‘temple’ is hungover and needs feeding with gut-busting burgers and stacked sandwiches, you’ll find it all at Pen and Pencil – the neighbourhood Northern Quarter restaurant and bar which has what you need to feed on before you even know you need it.
