Meeting with a friend last week for a quick lunch, I asked my colleagues to recommend somewhere quick, easy and tasty. The general consensus was to try The Bell Inn on Angel Row, Nottingham’s oldest inn.

They enthused about the fabulous curly fires and I was almost hooked. As I always do, before committing, I perused the online menu. I was super excited to see a pulled pork wrap on the menu. It was settled, that’s where we were heading.
It has a nice little outside seating area that would have been great had the weather been a couple of degrees warmer. We decided to head inside the passageway that used the be the entrance to the stables, and grabbed a seat within the main bar rather than head into the cosy nooks. This bar is full of history, with the original bars dating back to 1437. I didn’t realise how much history filled The Bell Inn until I started reading about it, it is fascinating.
Anyway, back on to the food. We sat and ordered drinks and perused the menu. SHOCK. The menu from the website was totally different. I just assumed that there must be a second menu and went to the bar. It was then that I was told that there were new owners and ‘no one updates the website. We just don’t bother to use it’. It is a shame really as a restaurant website is usually the first place I would go to get excited about my meal. I like looking at pictures of food and the menu!
Anyway, I went for the falafel and guacamole open sandwich, without the sour cream. It was ok, I can’t really say much more than that. The falafel was overcooked, but flavoured very well. The guacamole that was on the bead wouldn’t have filled a teaspoon which made it quite dry until I asked for more. The guacamole itself was quite tasty but there just wasn’t enough of it. The chips were hot and crisp but that is unfortunately the best thing I can say.
I should have chosen the hand battered cod goujon bloomer, which my friend Lisa opted for. She remarked that it was hot, well cooked and seasoned well. Gutted I didn’t choose it!
Maybe I went for the wrong thing but I was really disappointed in the experience, I would like to go back and try other items on the menu as maybe it was just a bad choice by me. Lets see what the next time holds in store.