Festive menu at Turtle Bay

Yesterday we popped into Turtle Bay Blackburn to sample their festive menu which has just recently launched and is available until the 31/12/17. There are a range of menus to suit all budgets and going Caribbean is a nice alternative to the usual Christmas fare, lots more exciting than Turkey. There is also plenty of choice for vegans, vegetarians and gluten free diners on the menu's on offer.

You can find an earlier review of the Blackburn branch of Turtle Bay here so you can get a good idea of the venue and its decor,  it's situated in the Cathedral quarter of the city centre.

If this review gets your mouth watering then lucky reader you can win a festive meal for two by following the easy enter rafflecopter on the below post, but hurry it closes soon.

Mr LF chose the 4 course option which is £24 per head, minimum 8 people and pre booked online. Available all day including for dinner service.

To start his meal, a Garlic 'n' herb flatbread -  a rough formed stone baked flatbread, topped with fresh rocket, crushed chilli and garlic butter. A spicy take on garlic bread.

Next up Garlic and chilli pit prawns - whole shell on king prawns grilled over the jerk pit, tossed in herb n chilli garlic butter served with flatbread. Additional £1 on the menu charge but so worth it, deliciously garlicky juicy prawns, very messy but oh so tasty.

Mr LF's maine was Pit Salmon - crispy skin fresh salmon fillet served with a grain salad, spinach , tangy sweet onion chutney and green seasoning. Light fresh flavours and a delicious crunchy salad.

To  finish a glouriously Sticky black treacle pudding - a typical West Indian pudding served with salted caramel black treacle sauce and vanilla ice cream. This disappeared so very quickly and apparently was the standout dish of Mr LF's meal.

I chose the 3 course option for lunch , available for £15 per head from restaurant opening until 5pm

My starter was the Mango Pit wings - 24 hour spiced and marinated chicken wings, pit grilled and tossed in a sweet mango chilli and coriander glaze. Served strewed with fresh herbs, nice and gnarly just how I like them, messy and sticky and fun to eat.

My main was the Caribbean browned chicken - braised on the bone chicken stew, served with coconut rice n peas, served with johnnycakes (Gluten free :-)). A hot dark spicy  stew served with tender rice and yummy johnny cakes.

For my dessert I chose the Banana and toffee cheesecake - a triple layered cheesecake with crisp biscuit base, creamy soft cheese, banana and toffee (Gluten free), delicious, creamy and very moreish and not too sweet.

We had a great time with friendly attentive service from welcoming staff, So if you need to book a festive get together for yourself or a group of friends why not go Caribbean this year at Turtle Bay, menus available in your local branch.

We dined on a complementary basis after being invited to give a review, all thoughts, views, opinions are our own. We were not expected to give a positive review.

Summer in the city - lunch at Turtle Bay, Preston

Turtle Bay, Preston sits in the heart of the city near to the Harris Museum and next to the iconic flag market, famous for its warm and friendly relaxed vibe, Turtle Bay is a popular spot in the city and we were recently invited along to sample their new summer menu.

Harking back to the days when the venue was a record shop ( yes I'm that old ... and yes I remember it as a record shop) part of the interior is decorated in homage to its roots, I loved this area, each Turtle bay has similar relaxed Caribbean styling to its decor, rough plasterwork, bare concrete, sheet steel and of course the colours of the Jamaican flag.

                                         

Later in the post there are more images of the fab interior, which screams summer and warm tropical breezes, which put us in a sunshine mood despite it being a typical Lancashire June day outside i.e. 14 degrees and overcast. The welcome was warm and friendly and the team eager to please.

So lets get down to the the food and drinks, the menu has been tweaked to reflect the change in season and the hopefully rising temperatures. 

Drinks - Mr LF was disappointed to discover that the Guinness West Indian Porter he so loved last time we visited was no longer on the menu, so instead he chose the Jamaican Pale Ale, brewed by The Bay especially to complement the jerk dishes at Turtle Bay. 

                                                          

I chose the Elderflower cooler, a refreshing mocktail with elderflower cordial, cucumber ribbons, fresh mint and lime juice topped up with soda and lots of ice. Delicious and very summery.

                                                     

On to the food, starters -  the Classic chilli beef patty for Mr LF, a crisp turmeric spiced pastry parcel, with a ground spiced beef filling and scotch bonnet chillies, served on a plank with baby gem lettuce cups of cooling house mayo.

My choice was the Jerk Pit chicken wings, three wings of chicken, spiced and marinated for 24 hours before being pit grilled,  the skin was a little flabby but  overall a tasty dish served with a choice of glaze, I plumped for pineapple. Sweet spicy and tasty, and very messy... no knifes and forks here.

Mains now, Jammin Lamb burger, a pit grilled lamb and mutton burger, served on a sweet pineapple glazed bun with crispy baby gem lettuce, sliced tomato, fresh mint and onion salad, herb mayo accompanied with spicy fries and Caribbean slaw. Juicy lamby and tasty, but  it wasn't very spicy.

My choice was the Avocado, butternut squash and mango salad, I chose pit grilled garlic and chilli prawns to up the protein content of my dish, I was slightly disappointed (only 4 prawns but they were whoppers) and not very spicy but well cooked. The salad made me smile with crispy gem lettuce, sugar snap peas, beets and juicy avocado and mango, coconut shavings and a citrus lime dressing, very summery and colourful.

                                                   

Dessert time, well it would rude not to, Mr LF loved the sound of the Cayman upside down rum cake, this is Turtle bays equivalent of sticky toffee pudding, warm vanilla rum cake, with rum caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. 

             

I liked the sound of the Spiced Rum and chocolate pot with coconut ice cream, Richly spiced decadent chocolate mousse served with refreshing coconut ice cream, the portion was very large and not very glamorously presented but it tasted very very good, just a little large portion wise given the richness of the pudding. I loved the enamel dishes used , they just look so rustic

                    

Here are more interior shots for you to enjoy

                                

                                         

So That's all Folks ! until next time

                                        

Turtle Bay Preston,

Crystal House,

Birley Street, 

Preston, 

PR1 2AQ

We dined on a complementary basis after being invited to give a review, all thoughts, views, opinions are our own. We were not expected to give a positive review.

Turtle Bay , Blackburn. Rum, Reggae and Jerk !

Last week, we paid a lunchtime visit to the recently opened Turtle Bay in the Cathedral Quarter in Blackburn to find out all about the hot new venue in town.

First a confession, both myself and Mr LF are pretty much Caribbean food virgins, so we were excited in anticipation of experiencing some new flavour sensations.

Turtle Bay is a growing chain of Caribbean social eating and drinking venues, in Lancashire you can find them in Preston, two in Manchester and two in Liverpool as well as the latest one in Blackburn.

Informal in style with a emphasis on relaxed social eating and drinking, the decor is definitely in a Jamaican Caribbean style. Plenty of reused materials and stripped back styling. The staff in Blackburn were great, friendly, welcoming and eager to please.

The extensive menu features a wide range of food (more of that in a minute) and drink including regional (as in Caribbean) specialities such as Ting, a very nice Guinness West Indies Porter, which Mr LF particularly enjoyed. They also have a good range of cocktails which often are 2 4 1 but I was driving today so couldn't comment but have many friends who have enjoyed a glass or two. I find Blackburn town centre roads and parking confusing enough when sober so I would probably be still navigating the one way system if I had partaken.

I have a very nice and refreshing Limeade which I understand they make on the premises.

Any way on to the food, as I have already said having never sampled this style of food as we perused the menu with our drinks we were assisted in our choices by a really helpful waitress, so we plumped for the Beach food platter to start, so we could try a few specialities all in one go.

 The sharing platter featured, traditional Jerk chicken wings, Stuffed Pepper roti, Sweetcorn fritters and Garlic and herb flatbreads, all served on a board drizzled with chilli sauce and strewed with rocket. The jerk wings were moist juicy and really tasty with a generous jerk spice hit. Pepper roti was served Trinidadian style with cheese, sliced carrots, potatoes and onions and sweet hot peppery sauce, tasty little triangles, a little like a cheesy tortilla. I had been recommended by a friend to order the sweetcorn fritters, which in her words were legendary and I can say I enjoyed them , little bundles of sweetcorn (obviously), spring onion, coriander and some Scotch bonnet chilli deep fried in balls. The garlic and herb flatbread was served as rolls which also included a sticky chilli sauce. Mr LF's favourite from the platter was the Jerk chicken wings and mine the sweetcorn fritters. 

For our mains I plumped for the Goat burger from the Jerk Pit part of the menu, a tasty goat and lamb burger, seasoned with Jerk spices, served on a sweet brioche style bun, with sweet onion chutney, green seasoning (a little like a pesto sauce), on the side sweet potato fries, slaw and a sweet plantain dumpling. I really enjoyed the goat burger plenty of goat flavour not too spicy and moist and juicy, the green seasoning was also interesting, a little like a pesto meets sofrito, meets salsa. I have since googled it and it contains onions, garlic, green herbs and then what ever else you like from chillies, more herbs or sweet peppers and is widely used in Trinidadian cooking.

Mr LF's choice was the One pot slow cooked Goat curry, served with the traditional accompaniments of rice 'n peas and Caribbean dumplings. The goat was tender and moist, the curry rich, sweet potatoes  soft and plenty of ginger and citrus notes along with hot scotch bonnet chilli, the sweet onion chutney provided a nice flavour contrast. Rice n peas for those not in the know is actually rice and normally kidney beans, not peas but none the less a tasty accompaniment to the curry. Caribbean dumplings are a little like unsweet doughnuts, served in fingers. Mr B managed to almost finish the dish, but he did say he was a little spicy towards the end for him.

For gluten free eater, I did notice that many of the One pot dishes are GF if you have the rice 'n peas and skip the roti and dumpling options.

Forgive me but a glorious close up of the Goat Curry one pot

After all that spicy food it only seemed right that we had a little sweetness, so both ordered a pudding. Mine was the Gluten free chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream, very nice too moist and very chocolaty, especially as I had two good sized pieces served with creamy ice cream.

Mr LF's choice was a Rum and Raisin pudding, soaked in dark rum with brown sugar, cinnamon raisins, this decadent pudding comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Nicely rum flavoured and a good end to our meal. 

Turtle Bay can be found at 3 Cathedral Square, Cathedral Quarter , Blackburn, its under the Premier Inn Hotel.

I would advise booking particularly at weekends as it was very busy when we visited. The soundtrack is what you expect of a restaurant who strapline is Rum, Reggae, Jerk, not an issue to us but might be for some people.

The prices are pretty reasonable and service was very good, everything was clean, the food fresh, hot and came out at a good pace.

Here are some more shots of the laid back interior.

One Love............

We dined on a complementary basis after being invited to give a review, all thoughts, views, opinions are our own. We were not expected to give a positive review.