Turtle Bay is a new Caribbean-inspired restaurant, packed out with colourful wood crates, oil drums, palms trees and all the bits and bobs that make you feel immediately like you are on holiday. The menu is simple: think jerk (chicken, salmon, veg - you name it), spicy one pot dishes and tropically-influenced cocktails such as Jamaican Mule (Sailor Jerrys, lime, home made ginger beer), a Jumbled Julep (white rum and Passoa, fresh strawberries, mint and apple) and the fabulously named Marley Mojito (Appleton Special rum, midori, fresh mint, watermelon and home made ginger beer).
Relaxing in the party spirit, we tried a range of cutters - basically a kind of authentic street food dish, inspired by beach shack sellers across the Caribbean islands that are served at Turtle Bay as starters. Jerk chicken wings, spice marinated, grilled & glazed with sour orange chutney were a transforming experience, taking the meal up and away from Manchester into a rainbow of hazy brown spice, and clove warmth. If this experience was anything to go by, options like Crisp fried spiced coated squid, mango mole, fresh lime & coriander mayo or the 'Trini Doubles', which include small roti, curried chickpeas with a cucumber chutney and coconut shavings would be rays of oral sunshine too.
Mains include 'Jerk Pit' options, as well as proper Jamaican 'one pots', including a solid range of vegetarian and vegan choices. Butter beans, corn cob, greens, carrots, sweet potatoes, herbs, coconut milk, rice n peas, fried dumplings come together as 'Rastafarian run down' for just under £10. Flavours were memorably intense, with just enough heat while Blue Mountain goat curry of marinated goat, potatoes and carrots, rice n peas, sweet onion chutney and grilled flatbread was a tender success. There is a comprehensive and tropical sweet menu too, that includes thrills like dark chocolate pie with vanilla ice cream, and BBQ pineapple, grilled and sugared with a rum caramel sauce, coconut shavings and coconut ice cream.
Of course, this wouldn't be a Caribbean restaurant without a serious rum menu. Typically made using sugar cane in the Caribbean and Latin America, this is where the best rums are still produced. Options include Chairmans' reserve, a white double distilled rum from of St. Lucia and Gold Medal and Best in Class award at the International Wine and Spirit Competition 2008, and oak-barrel aged Angostura Rum, ooozing chocolate, spice, vanilla and toasted oak. We particular liked Jamaica's Myers Original Dark Rum, a blend of up to nine different rums distilled using Jamaica's typical production method: pot-stills and connoisseurs favourite, British Navy Pusser's Rum. Unlike most rums, Pusser's uses no flavouring agents and is 100% natural. The distillation process is similar to that used for single malt scotches, so it's one to be enjoyed on the rocks.
Obviously, a menu of rum and jerk chicken is not for everyone, but this relaxed charmer of a restaurant is more than likely to change your mind. Its packed with people celebrating birthdays or having a romantic or chilled meal with friends. The food is extremely good value too, making Turtle Bay the kind of place you'll want to return to time and again.
Turtle Bay, 33-35 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 4WB. Tel:0161 236 4101, http://www.turtlebay.co.uk/find-book/manchester/