The Pasta Factory

77 Shudehill, Manchester, M4 4AN

In the shadow of Shudehill bus station occupies the old premises of Baekdu are a group of friends from Northern Italy who spotted a gap in the market for ‘pastificio’ and serve authentic pasta dishes to eat in or take away. 

The decor is no frills, but obviously we weren’t expecting any extravagance from a fledgling eatery. We did, however, find the lighting way too bright in there for an evening meal. Maybe buy a dimmer switch or a few lamps, guys.

First up we ordered a bottle of wine (I never remember to write down the name) which was reasonably priced at £12. It tasted fine, nothing special.

To start we shared a starter plate of antipasti (£7) which was made up of cheeses and meats. I seems to remember there being Salami, taleggio cheese and crackers. Nothing stood out and I found it rather bland.

For the main course, I decided on Reginette Al Barbera Con Ragu Di Cervo (£12) - homemade pasta with slow cooked venison ragu, topped with Parmesan. Now we’re talking - the pasta was superb. I don’t recall seeing any pasta in this shape - long textured ribbons that look like octopus tentacles. The slow cooked ragu was rich, flavoursome and a perfect consistency to stick to the pasta. I managed to try some of the Gnocchi Alla Toma (£11) which was creamy melt in the mouth cheesy potato goodness.

The service was laid back and friendly. I will definitely return to sample some of the other intriguing pasta dishes and the Italian beers on offer. 

Bourbon and Black

2 Mount Street, City Centre, Manchester, M2 5WQ 

We decided to try out this relatively new restaurant which has replaced ‘Velvet’ on Mount Street near Albert Square.

The barman upstairs was run off his feet serving cocktails to the half full bar, greeting and taking diners downstairs to the restaurant. Downstairs there was one waitress and the restaurant was around three quarters full. Both members of staff were literally running around the place, but doing a great job. This is completely understandable - most restaurants run a skeleton staff in the quietest month of the year as everyone tries to stick to their new year resolutions.

The decor was like every other new restaurant - bottles used for lights, exposed brickwork, polished metals and wood to give it a old fashioned feel. I would think twice about bringing my parents here, as the music (classic blues and rock tunes) was incredibly loud.

About an hour after being seated, the starters arrived. This wasn’t an issue for us, but I’m sure less patient folk would not be pleased.

For starters, four of us shared the dry rub wings (£5.50), chilli and garlic tiger prawns (£7.95) and jalapeno poppers (£3.50) - all very tasty, my favourite was probably the juicy, meaty prawns. The ribs were nothing special, but I would have chosen the “freakin hot” flavour if I’d had my way. Sadly we were informed after ordering that the Pigs in Blankets (£4.95) were not available, which we’d been looking forward to.

Onto the main. Me and my girlfriend struggled to choose between the various steak options, but our server recommended we share the Chateaubriand steak (£55). We asked for it to be cooked medium rare and ordered a peppercorn sauce (£1.95) on the side.The steak was cooked to perfection with great charring on the outside and beautiful melt in the mouth pinkness within. The homemade skin on chips were superb too and the sauce was great for dipping.

Sadly I was too full to try a dessert, but they sounded great - particularly the cornflake cake and bourbon sticky toffee pudding. I would have sampled one of their huge selection of bourbons but we decided to move onto somewhere else where we could get served faster. 

Overall we were impressed with the food, but the service does not match the prices they charge. The staff were doing their very best, but were definitely struggling with an unusually busy Tuesday evening. Without the 50% off January offer, there’s no way I would pay these prices. There are a lot of places serving good steak in Manchester, and I fear for Bourbon and Black. They need to up their game to survive.