NAMED after the timber used to make violin bows, you'll be making sweet music, too, after a visit to this new venue at the northern tip of Lever Street.

Principally serving an all-you-can-eat roster of chicken, sausage and steak, there's a relaxed bar section at the front which specialises in Brazil's most explosive export since Giselle - the Caipirinha cocktail.

Cachaca, a type of white rum, forms the backbone of this curious cocktail, in which cubes of fresh lime and sugar are bashed together with ice and the odd blast of soda, cranberry or whatever takes your fancy.

It's a bit like a mojito, only nicer (I reckon), and over the few years has washed up in cocktail bars across the country.

I first tried one on Copacabana beach and became hooked straight off, but back home I realised just how easy they are to get wrong. Too alcoholic, too limey, too sweet,

I've had caipirinhas every which way but right, but Pau Brasil raised my hopes - particularly when I discovered that it's staffed almost entirely by Brazilians.

Lone Brit is barman Martin Taylor, and having learned his trade at Obsidian, the 21-year-old knows a thing or two about cocktails (he even made off with third prize in the Food and Drink Festival contest).

Mulled

"I'd recommend the straight caipirinha," he suggested, as my friend Kate and I mulled our options over at the bar.

With more than 12 versions on offer, the choice wasn't straightforward, but she finally plumped for a Santa Catarina (£6) featuring cachaca, passion fruit and mango in a Martini glass, while I went for the basic caipirinha, followed by an Espirto Santo.

A little too sharp for my liking, but Martin was spot on about the simple caipirinha though, which was the best I've tried outside Rio.

For those with rum fatigue, the bar stocks a range of alternatives, including Plymouth gin, Wyborowa vodka, assorted wines and Brahma by the bottle.

It's an in-the-know, impressive selection and only time will tell if customers will venture up Lever Street to find out, but they're making a good stab at drawing them in so far; Tuesday's musical 'Brazilian Night' looks like a particularly fine way to kick off the week(end).

Pau Brasil, 58 Lever Street, Northern Quarter, Tel: 0161 923 6888 Open: Monday, noon-11pm; Tuesday, (Brazilian night) noon-2am; Wed-Thurs, noon-11pm; Fri -Sat, Noon-2am, Sunday, noon-11pm.