Once the hustle and bustle of the festive season dies down, January can often be a much quieter month with not a lot to look forward to.
Those carefree summer nights are still in the distant future, and your friends may have resolved to drinking less, spending less, and sleeping more. The long and short of it? The party’s over, basically, which is the last thing you want to hear when your birthday falls in January.
People with January birthdays have drawn the short straw when it comes to celebrations.
But luckily, one of Greater Manchester’s most-popular restaurants is offering Capricorns and Aquarians the chance to ease the January blues with a ‘Birthday Bonus’ offer.
The Botanist – which has a number of local branches on Deansgate in the city centre, MediaCityUK, Didsbury, Alderley Edge, Warrington, and Chester – is giving those who choose to celebrate their January birthday at one of its restaurants the chance to “pay for the year you were born”.
The offer means that those with the January birthday and everyone in their booking will only pay for the amount that corresponds to the year you were born when dining from the restaurant’s group set menu.
Need an example? Let’s say, if you were born in 1993, then you’ll only pay £19.93 each, instead of the usual cost of £30 per person.
The Botanist is giving people with January birthdays the chance to “pay for the year you were born” / Credit: The Botanist
The older you are, the cheaper your meal is.
That means you’ll make a saving of about a third per person, so if you do have a January birthday, your friends will have no excuse but to celebrate with you over one of The Botanist’s signature dishes.
The menu offer applies to lunch and dinner sittings and includes three courses plus a glass of wine, bottle of beer, or non-alcoholic mocktail.
Some of the dishes on offer include favourites such as Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, Rump Steak, and the mouthwatering Oreo Cookie Dough, as well as vegan options including the Plant Based Burger, Cauliflower Wings, and Raspberry and Almond Frangipane Tart, and for an extra special touch, you can also pre-order a birthday dessert or cocktail, complete with an edible ‘Happy Birthday’ message.
Booking is essential to redeem the ‘Birthday Bonus’ offer, so you can view the menu and book at your nearest restaurant on The Botanist website here.
Featured Image – The Botanist
Food & Drink
Northern Quarter favourite The Pen and Pencil announces massive 10th birthday party and huge offers
Daisy Jackson
The Pen and Pencil, an absolute staple for brunches and drinks in the Northern Quarter, is celebrating a major milestone this month with a huge party and some unbeatable deals.
The bar and restaurant will be marking 10 years on Tariff Street in September – and it’s only right that we all pile in to celebrate with them.
This spot is one of the city’s original bottomless brunch venues and is similarly famed for its happy hour offerings, and opened in 2015 to bring a taste of Manhattan to Manchester.
Pen and Pencil took its name from the infamous New York City bar that was seen in Mad Men.
And now as it turns 10 years old, it’ll be throwing one big party on Saturday 27 September, featuring 10 hours of DJs, free pints of Red Stripe at 10pm, and a special bottomless brunch offering.
Those DJing on the day will include Drag Race UK’s Banksie, as well as Les Croasdaile, Mark Hogg, Danny Ward and A Deeper Groove.
Pen & Pencil has amazing deals for its 10th birthdayPen & Pencil is a Northern Quarter OG
The Pen and Pencil 10th birthday party will kick off from 2pm and run until late – but if you can’t make that one, there’ll be celebrations all week (and, indeed, month) long.
On Tuesday 23 September, you’ll be able to play for double prize money in The Pen and Pencil quiz, as well as enjoying happy hour drinks all night.
Then on Friday 26 September, it’ll be an all-night happy hour, with free tequila shots at 10pm and music from DJs Nev Johnson and Gareth James from 7pm.
All September long, there’ll be 50% off food every Monday, two-for-£10 cocktails every Wednesday, £10 burgers every Thursday, happy hour all night on Fridays, 10 dishes for £10 and two bloody Marys for £10 on Sundays, plus DJs on Fridays and Saturdays.
There’s a new colourful art installation outside the venue inspired by the bar’s New York roots.
Owner Kevin Connor said: “We’re really excited to be celebrating being part of the Manchester community for ten years!
“New York’s Pen and Pencil was a classic steak and cocktail joint, and we’re proud to have created our very own iconic Northern Quarter hangout. We hope everyone will join us in celebrating ten years on Tariff Street.”
Walk-ins are welcome for The Pen and Pencil 10th birthday party on Saturday 27 September, but booking is encouraged – book your spot HERE.
Featured image: The Manc Group
Food & Drink
Manchester restaurant to give out FREE katsu curries to people called ‘Kat’ or ‘Sue’
Emily Sergeant
In what is a small stroke of genius, a restaurant chain has decided to give out free katsu curries to anyone called ‘Kat’ or ‘Sue’.
Throughout September, award-winning restaurant chain Banana Tree – which has a Greater Manchester site down at Salford Quays – is shining the spotlight on its popular katsu creations, and as a clever way of celebrating National Katsu Day on 27 September has announced a pretty unique giveaway.
That’s right – the restaurant will be serving up katsu dishes to people called Kat, Sue, and every delicious variation of the names in between.
Anyone named Kat, Katie, Katherine, Sue, Suzy, Susan, Suzanne – or close enough to qualify, the list goes on – can head to their local Banana Tree restaurant, and all they’ll need to do is show proof of name and they can enjoy a free katsu dish of their choice, worth up to £16.75.
The chain’s kastu lineup includes three star dishes.
First there’s the much-loved Katsu Curry, as well as the all-new Katsu Burger, which is made from either a crispy chicken or veggie fillet, spicy mayo, puffed noodle crunch, and a drizzle of Katsu sauce tucked into a soft Shokupan bun with a side of salt n pepper chilli chips.
Then there’s also the intriguing newcomer, the Katsu Carbonara – which is described as being a daring East-meets-West mash-up and ‘unapologetically’ Banana Tree.
Banana Tree is giving away free katsu curries to people called ‘Kat’ or ‘Sue’ / Credit: Banana Tree
With each of these dishes usually priced around the £16 mark, the giveaway isn’t just a way of marking National Katsu Day, but it’s also a way to sample the some of the restaurant’s biggest crowd-pleasers entirely free of charge.
To avoid any confusion on who makes the cut, Banana Tree will reveal the full qualifying list of name variations on Instagram soon, so keep your eyes peeled.
“Our Katsu range is one of our proudest creations, so National Katsu Day felt like the perfect moment to have some fun with our fans,” a Banana Tree spokesperson said ahead of the giveaway.
The free katsu offer is available for four days only from Monday 22 to Thursday 25 September, and you just need to head to the Banana Tree website to sign up to the Big Flavour Club here.
Emily Sergeant -
12th January 2022 
