LET'S EAT - Turtle Bay

I love going out to eat - whilst it's not something I do particularly regularly (my student budget doesn't always allow it), I love the social side and the huge range of restaurants we have now means that you have the opportunity to try so many different cuisines. One place that myself and my friends have frequented on a few occasions now is Turtle Bay, a Caribbean restaurant who definitely don't scrimp on the use of spices and flavours in their dishes!
They also do an incredible range of cocktails, most of which are based around rum (obviously) and probably explain why we love this restaurant so much. No celebration is too great or too small for Turtle Bay's Happy Hour.

Last week a group of us were supposed to be going to a Thai restaurant for a friend's birthday - but, in true style, we managed to miss lunch service by 8 minutes meaning that a last-minute change of venue was needed. I think we were so hungry by this point that we would have eaten anything, so when we rounded the corner and came across Turtle Bay, the decision was mutual.


On Turtle Bay's menu is a range of salads, one-pots and jerk pit BBQ dishes. They also offer several starters and have a range of 'lunch n light' choices, such as flatbreads, burgers and wraps. I was feeling pretty ravenous so opted for the 'chickpea and curry squash' one-pot ("Chickpeas, butternut squash, spices, sweet onion chutney, rice ‘n’ peas & flatbread"), for £9.65. Our food came fairly quickly (thankfully!) and was all presented really nicely - Turtle Bay always do make the effort to make it look appealing and everything is served on their wooden serving boards. I really like the dishes that their one-pots are served in, although they are large and can make it seem like your meal is rather small when it actual fact it's just being dwarfed by the dish. 
The food itself was attractive, although I didn't spend too much time admiring it! It was a pretty tasty dish - the different flavours worked brilliantly together and whilst it was spicy (as is the case for all of Turtle Bay's food) it wasn't excessively so. The combination of different textures that came from the rice, chickpeas and sweet potato was great as well - I would have perhaps liked a few more pieces of sweet potato in the dish though. It was a lovely meal overall but I was pretty disappointed by the 'flatbread' - I thought it would be slightly more substantial rather than two small squares. I'd rate it as a 6 out of 10, as I think it needs a few improvements to make it a really great dish.

Chickpeas, squash, rice - mmm

On my previous Turtle Bay visits I haven't had a pudding - despite practically drooling over the menu! However my friends both decided to get the 'dark chocolate brownie' so I thought I would splash the cash and try the 'banana and toffee cheesecake' (with a "rum caramel sauce") which was £4.85. Cheesecake is my all-time favourite dessert and I absolutely love anything banana-flavoured so this was already a winner for me.
I love that they were so generous with the caramel sauce - most restaurants just artfully drizzle a small amount over the dessert but Turtle Bay seemed to just pour it on with a ladle. The sauce was delicious, not too sweet and thick enough to scoop up with the spoon. I couldn't really taste the rum coming through but it had a lovely caramel flavour. The cheesecake was divine - perfectly creamy and with a definite (but not overpowering) taste of banana. The base was soft enough to cut through with the spoon but not crumbly or gritty. This was definitely my kind of pudding! My only disappointment was that there wasn't more of it... it's a 9 out of 10 from me.

Happiness on a plate

If you're looking for a relaxed, casual restaurant that serves a tasty yet unique range of food ('spiced goat wrap', anyone?), as well as some delicious puddings and cocktails, then I would recommend giving Turtle Bay a try. They're not too expensive, the staff are always really friendly and there's something on the menu to suit most people! It's perhaps not ideal for people who aren't fond of spicy food, as some dishes can be quite hot, but overall it's at least worth a visit.