As much as I love having a Christmas dinner, sometimes it can get a bit boring seeing the same menu in every restaurant over the festive season. When I found out that Turtle Bay had launched their very own festive menu, I couldn’t wait to try it out. I thought it was great that they were taking bookings for an alternative Caribbean Christmas experience.
I was offered the chance to come in and review the menu so of course I said yes. This would be my third time at Turtle Bay and it gets better and better with each visit. The dishes on the menu have been inspired by the island life and Caribbean sunshine.
The festive platters menu is perfect if you want that chilled out vibe and make your Christmas do more of a social experience and it costs just £9 per head. The platters consist of Turtle Bay’s most popular dishes alongside a delicious range of sides. Team this with a cocktail or two and you are good to go! Turtle Bay now allow you to pre-order drinks packages so your drinks could be ready and waiting as you arrive.
We arrived at 6pm - we like to go at this time not only because the cocktails are 2 for 1, but it means we can go straight from work. We were seated straight away and it was the first time we got to sit inside the well-known campervan area! It was great sitting here, really added to the atmosphere. We were given the All Day Christmas menu which consists at 4 courses for £24 per head. To start, we were offered some sharing dishes, firstly Garlic n Herb Flatbread which was topped with fresh rocket, crushed chilli and garlic butter. It was amazing, it was a lot bigger than I expected and the garlic butter was melted in to perfection. We also had Spicy Pork Rinds, the menu said these were served with a BBQ jerk but we didn’t seem to get this. These were a bit like pork scratchings but easier to eat. They made a nice dish for a little nibble. If you come here as a group, you will also get Trini Chickpeas which are baked spicy chickpeas dusted with thyme. I like that 2 of these dishes are vegetarian and the other 2 cater for coeliacs so it is handy if you have people in your group with various dietary requirements.
After eating our arrival nibbles we went onto starters. James decided to have the Crispy Chilli Squid which he has had previously and loves. He said they were cooked to perfection and piping hot. I decided to try something different and went for the Duck Rolls. I received 3 flatbread rolls filled with slow roasted shredded duck, sweet onion, soy sauce and chilli and it was served alongside an orange chutney. The portion size was ideal and the duck was delicious. It fell apart in my mouth, although they were rather messy to eat! The rolls had a good amount of filling to them so you didn’t feel like you’d missed out on any flavours.
Our main courses then arrived promptly after our starters. The timings were great I found, the staff really kept an eye on you and made sure plates and glasses were cleared away quickly and were always very attentive to us. For main course, James had the Half Jerk Chicken which looked like a pretty decent sized portion. His 24 hour jerk marinated chicken came with coconut rice ‘n’ peas and a Caribbean slaw. The chicken fell away from the bone and the flavours of the rice really complimented the chicken. He was absolutely stuffed after eating this. I went for the Pit Salmon, something I have never tried before and went for the original jerk glaze. The salmon was very flavoursome and had a delicious crispy skin. It was served with a grain salad, sweet onion chutney and green seasoning. The salad was really light so I didn’t feel overly full afterwards and the cooling flavours complimented the spicy marinade on the salmon. All in all it was very tasty.
When it came to choosing a dessert, we were both full! But as it is part of the £24 per head price, we needed to have one! After a bit of a breather, I decided I wanted to try the Sticky Black Treacle Pudding. I saw the words ‘salted caramel’ on the menu and knew this had to be my choice. The only one thing I would say about this is that it isn’t served warm, I think I would have preferred it to be heated up but it was still very good. I also would say if you’re full – maybe choose something a bit lighter as this was a heavy dessert, no fault of my own there! James went for the dark chocolate brownie which was served warm with vanilla ice cream and I am guessing he liked it as he ate every last drop.
When it came to drinks we also stuck to what we knew and I had my favourite cocktail, a Goombay Smash. James had a non-alcoholic Watermelon drink. Overall we had a really good meal and the atmosphere was great. As the night went on it got busier but this didn’t affect the quality of service we received. Head over to the Turtle Bay Facebook or Website for more information and to find out where your closest restaurant is.
Check out the Turtle Bay Christmas Menu and let me know what your choices would be? They also do a lunch menu so it’s worth a look whatever time of day you fancy getting festive!
I was offered the chance to come in and review the menu so of course I said yes. This would be my third time at Turtle Bay and it gets better and better with each visit. The dishes on the menu have been inspired by the island life and Caribbean sunshine.
The festive platters menu is perfect if you want that chilled out vibe and make your Christmas do more of a social experience and it costs just £9 per head. The platters consist of Turtle Bay’s most popular dishes alongside a delicious range of sides. Team this with a cocktail or two and you are good to go! Turtle Bay now allow you to pre-order drinks packages so your drinks could be ready and waiting as you arrive.
We arrived at 6pm - we like to go at this time not only because the cocktails are 2 for 1, but it means we can go straight from work. We were seated straight away and it was the first time we got to sit inside the well-known campervan area! It was great sitting here, really added to the atmosphere. We were given the All Day Christmas menu which consists at 4 courses for £24 per head. To start, we were offered some sharing dishes, firstly Garlic n Herb Flatbread which was topped with fresh rocket, crushed chilli and garlic butter. It was amazing, it was a lot bigger than I expected and the garlic butter was melted in to perfection. We also had Spicy Pork Rinds, the menu said these were served with a BBQ jerk but we didn’t seem to get this. These were a bit like pork scratchings but easier to eat. They made a nice dish for a little nibble. If you come here as a group, you will also get Trini Chickpeas which are baked spicy chickpeas dusted with thyme. I like that 2 of these dishes are vegetarian and the other 2 cater for coeliacs so it is handy if you have people in your group with various dietary requirements.
After eating our arrival nibbles we went onto starters. James decided to have the Crispy Chilli Squid which he has had previously and loves. He said they were cooked to perfection and piping hot. I decided to try something different and went for the Duck Rolls. I received 3 flatbread rolls filled with slow roasted shredded duck, sweet onion, soy sauce and chilli and it was served alongside an orange chutney. The portion size was ideal and the duck was delicious. It fell apart in my mouth, although they were rather messy to eat! The rolls had a good amount of filling to them so you didn’t feel like you’d missed out on any flavours.
Our main courses then arrived promptly after our starters. The timings were great I found, the staff really kept an eye on you and made sure plates and glasses were cleared away quickly and were always very attentive to us. For main course, James had the Half Jerk Chicken which looked like a pretty decent sized portion. His 24 hour jerk marinated chicken came with coconut rice ‘n’ peas and a Caribbean slaw. The chicken fell away from the bone and the flavours of the rice really complimented the chicken. He was absolutely stuffed after eating this. I went for the Pit Salmon, something I have never tried before and went for the original jerk glaze. The salmon was very flavoursome and had a delicious crispy skin. It was served with a grain salad, sweet onion chutney and green seasoning. The salad was really light so I didn’t feel overly full afterwards and the cooling flavours complimented the spicy marinade on the salmon. All in all it was very tasty.
When it came to choosing a dessert, we were both full! But as it is part of the £24 per head price, we needed to have one! After a bit of a breather, I decided I wanted to try the Sticky Black Treacle Pudding. I saw the words ‘salted caramel’ on the menu and knew this had to be my choice. The only one thing I would say about this is that it isn’t served warm, I think I would have preferred it to be heated up but it was still very good. I also would say if you’re full – maybe choose something a bit lighter as this was a heavy dessert, no fault of my own there! James went for the dark chocolate brownie which was served warm with vanilla ice cream and I am guessing he liked it as he ate every last drop.
When it came to drinks we also stuck to what we knew and I had my favourite cocktail, a Goombay Smash. James had a non-alcoholic Watermelon drink. Overall we had a really good meal and the atmosphere was great. As the night went on it got busier but this didn’t affect the quality of service we received. Head over to the Turtle Bay Facebook or Website for more information and to find out where your closest restaurant is.
Check out the Turtle Bay Christmas Menu and let me know what your choices would be? They also do a lunch menu so it’s worth a look whatever time of day you fancy getting festive!
*I received this meal free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way.
