The Crafty Crow in Nottingham up by the entrance to the Castle is one of those pubs that you really should go to more often. I myself am an infrequent visitor even when I am in town, but I feel that I do not do, or have not done, this place enough justice with the count of steps I have made across the threshold 🙁

It is one of those places that has a really great beer selection! An ever rotating list of ales is one of it’s most endearing features. I always have to try something new, as all too often the familiar and safe is not present on the bar when I peruse the offerings of the day.

Some Menu Items

When it comes to Friday evenings and when it come to pub food, I find myself to be a one Or two trick pony (not even sure that is a real saying? but we are rolling with it). More often than not I would be sitting there ordering their burger, but at the moment I have a bit of a downer on British Pub burgers as I have been spoilt with glorious burgers in the States for the best part of 6 months.

So…………

Fish and Chips however is a totally different beast (both literally and factually) and I found that a MyFoodHunt in the USA was an often fruitless exercise for this delectation, I have now decided to dedicate my end of week day to the joy of “Fish and Chips Friday!” (note: don’t worry there will still be many burgers consumed for the purposes of the blog 🙂 )

Fish, Chips, and Mushy Peas

The Fish and Chips at the Crafty Crow is a bit of a mixed bag, a bit of a work in progress. They looked the business on the plate, but I am sure that you are far more interested in the story of the eating than the vision 🙂

The Fish itself is encased in a very lovely crisp beer batter coating, it had a great bite as you crunched your way through it. Inside the fish was solid, perhaps a bit grey, and perhaps a bit too wet. It did have good flavour though, meaty would be a good word. I could not tell you what sort of fish it was.

The chips are not really my sort of thing, they are a bit too ‘steak fries’ and not really chip shop chips or even pub chip shop chips. I did get a decent portion though so I shouldn’t complain too much. I wasn’t that bothered, but having said that they are ‘half’ of the “Fish and Chips Story” so should get equal billing on the bill board.

Mushy peas are also something that always excites me, I like to think I am quite the connoisseur 🙂  I love making Americans eat them! The ones that they serve here at the Crafty Crow are a little bit different. I really liked them but I am not quite sure what is going on. I found them to be a bit dryer, a bit more paste like, or even spreadable, than your traditional mushy peas.

I like to think that was intentional and I am going to hold that thought until I next try them. I could make a great pea and ham sandwich spread with them, but if you want the real thing go to Goose Fair 🙂

Overall I liked and enjoyed eating my Fish, Chips and Mushy peas at The Crafty Crow, they were very filling and great as pub food, but I am not sure that I am quite infatuated enough to declare my love. If you are here and fancy some, then why not chance your heart?

The Chalk board outside the Crafty Crow focuses your mind on beer, principally Real Ale and Craft Beer. On their website it is a similar story where they tell us that ”

We are Magpie Brewery’s tap house but you’ll find a lot more than just our own beers. In fact we are only dedicating three of our ten handpulls to our beers, the rest of the real ale selection will be on constant rotation and come from a wide range of interesting micro breweries from all over the country including of course several local breweries.  Our aim is simple, provide the best independent food and drink we can find”

Pleasingly they also serve that food until 9pm which is a bonus of those of us who have to get from work all the way into town.

As I said up at the top I do like the Crafty Crow and need to come here more often.

One of my earlier blogs back in 2014 when it was just opening can be found here on the blog “The Crafty Crow – Real Ale and Craft Beer and Local Food”

I also came back and wrote about one of their breakfasts last summer “Breakfast at The Crafty Crow – Great Pub, Great Food”

Looking back at both gave me as much pleasure as the days I came in to sample and munch 🙂

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The Crafty Crow is located at 102 Friar Lane about a 5 minute walk from the Old Market Square Tram Stop.

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