The Falcon Inn is well situated up on Canning Circus in Nottingham, it has recently reopened and is now a collaboration between the Adrian and Tina Draper, who run Fellows, Morton, and Clayton down on Canal Street, and Anthony Hughes of the Lincoln Green Brewing Company. I didn’t know any of that when I walked in there looking for some food while on a mini pub crawl up in Canning Circus. I do know now as I have had a look on their website, but to be honest the clues were all there when we were there, and I already had my suspicions of the collaboration as I dined. So what gives it away?

Inside your are greeted warmly both at the bar and by the wood fires burning away in each room, there is that taste of wood smoke in the air, and the flicker of the flames in the corner of the room.

We didn’t want to sit too close, so we opted for a seat by the door where there was still a nice flow of fresh air as well.

At the bar there were Lincoln Green pumps a plenty, I had a little perusal and a taste before having a sip upon a glass of Marion Pale Ale which was quite decent, crisp and lightly fruity or as described on their website more succinctly as a “Full bodied Pale Ale, packed with citrus hop and a hint of grapefruit.” We also tried the Sheriff Pale Ale which was described as  “A true India Pale Ale, using only UK hops and with a strong bitterness and citrus/ orange aroma.”

Pulled Pork, FMC chips, FMC? I am sure I have seen that somewhere before, is it? Yes that is it right ‘Fellows, Morton, and Clayton’, I have had those before and they were really good, so is this the same pulled pork that I had at FMC some time back? (read more here) I was certainly hoping so. There was some brief discussion where it was commented that I always have pulled pork and that should try something else, but then I pointed out that my companion always picked the burger so why shouldn’t I. It was a tie game on the menu front so we ordered the Pulled Pork, and the ‘Real Beef “Falcon” Burger’ and left it in the hands of the menu gods to think about what they had just done, it wasn’t our fault.

There was plenty of that Pulled Pork in the bun, and it is really good pulled pork as well, described on the menu as ‘Slow Cooked Pork Shoulder with Dry Rub Spices, Apple Cider Onions, Homemade Barbeque Sauce and French Fries’ for £7.75 I am hesitating to say that there is too much, as after your first bite you are inclined to think that really want as much as you possibly can get your mouth on. The meat has a really good slightly smoky taste, and also a bit of a tang from those onions. There is a lot of gravy in each bite, so you will most likely need a few more napkins to mop up inevitable spillage. You could choose to mix the BBQ sauce in with the meat, but I preferred to use that as a dipping sauce for my FMC chips.

The verdict on the Real Beef “Falcon Burger” was pretty positive too, it looks a bit of a mess with the top of the bun off, but once assembled it was a really good bite, the burger is a good homemade patty and the house chutney adds an extra dimension, who needs tomato ketchup when you have a condiment like this? The menu notes that it comes in a ‘toasted soft cob, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise,  and house chutney’ with FMC chips for £8

The Falcon menu is quite limited with just a few options including a ‘Catch of the Day’ Fish and Chips, and Posh Cheese n Toast. I think that is a good thing, as if you keep the menu simple you know that the chef is going to be making the same dishes time and time again and you know that consistency and freshness is more likely. One thing I am going to have to return for is one of the Falcon Eggs, this is a larger than normal Homemade Scotch Egg which feature on a bar top chalk board, so popular that they had all gone by about 7.30pm on the night we walked in.

I like the Falcon Inn, it is just in two small rooms and used to be the old Falcon Inn owned by Shipstones some time back. It is quite cosy, has good beer, decent food and just based on that alone is worth popping in for a look. If you are up in Canning Circus you can add this into a small mini pub crawl around the circus, with about four pubs in stumbling distance

The Falcon Inn is located at 1 Alfreton Rd, next door to the Sir John Borlase Warren Pub, and close to the Organ Grinder by Blue Monkey. I would suggest trying all three, but get your Pulled Pork from the Falcon