Turtle Bay Press Preview

AD | Press event

On Thursday evening I was lucky enough to attend the Turtle Bay Press Preview for the new Norwich restaurant! This was the first night out I have had since Erin was born so needless to say I was a bit nervous! I had to get a picture of us together before heading out with Kirsty from The Overflowing Library.

Turtle Bay’s newest branch is located in the Norwich Lanes (Swan Lane), housed in a beautiful Grade II listed building. You cannot miss this place! Turtle Bay looks absolutely stunning lit up at night and will easily tempt anyone walking by. The new restaurant opens on 30th August!

After being greeted at the door we were advised to head over to the bar where we could grab a cocktail. Turtle Bay prides itself on Rum, Reggae and Jerk and boy do they do rum well. With over 40 Caribbean rums to choose from and very wide variety of cocktails to work your way through, there is something for everyone! There are even non-alcoholic delights for those unfortunate enough to be driving.

I have to be honest, I drank a bit too much. Within the first half an hour (maybe less) I’d had a couple of cocktails, one being the incredibly strong Beachcombers Zombie. I hadn’t been out in 8 months and I couldn’t help myself. Plus, I learned that I like rum a lot. At this point I met Lucy from In Norfolk. I’m sure she must have thought I was quite mad drinking so quickly when going home to an 8 months old.

In all seriousness, the cocktails were amazing. 241 Happy Hour runs from 1130am until 7pm and then starts again at 10pm!

Once everyone was settled we had a talk around the island hut style bar about the roots of Turtle Bay and what was on offer! Afterwards, we found ourselves a table ready to sample some of Turtle Bay’s menu.

To start we sampled the Beach Food Platter, consisting of spicy jerk chicken wings, pepper roti, sweetcorn fritters and garlic & herb flatbreads. I was NOT prepared for a spicy garlic bread. Not at all. Now would be a very good time to mention that pretty much everything at Turtle Bay is spicy. The rum cocktails came in very handy at this point!

We were lucky enough to try two of the main meals which were the Goat Curry and the Jerk Chicken.

Initially I was not going to eat the Goat Curry. The idea of it freaked me out a little bit. However, the rum had certainly kicked in by this point and I got a bit brave. I am so glad that I was. The goat was so tender and beautifully cooked! The jerk chicken was beautiful as well. I think my tongue had started to cool down a bit by this point!

We were well and truly spoiled with dessert. Instead of trying just one dessert we had a platter of miniatures to try. These were the banana and toffee cheesecake, zesty lemon and lime tart, dark chocolate brownie, Caymanas rum cake and the rum and raisin bread pudding. I’m not a fan of lemon so I passed on this one but the rest were amazing. I obviously needed more rum at this point and wolfed down the rum cake like there was no tomorrow.

If you’re local then discovering Turtle Bay Norwich is a must! The restaurant itself is absolutely stunning and so different. The twinkly lights in the windows make it a special place for an evening meal while the salvaged VW Campervan makes for a fun seating area for lunch. I cannot wait to go back and try some of the other items on the menu. I already have my eye on the Street Burger with Sweet Potato Fries!

Thank you so much for a wonderful evening Turtle Bay! I look forward to seeing you again soon!