Yet again I find myself drawn to some Jerk and by that I don't mean Chris is a crappy husband. I'm of course talking about jerk seasoning; in particular at Turtle Bay.
Back in June I had a real privilege of attending the preview meal for the opening of Turtle Bay in Peterborough (which you can read about here).
Since then I've been itching to go back with Chris and experience the restaurant when it's in full swing and try out some more of their delicious cuisine and of course the cocktails.
2'4'1 cocktails run until 7pm which make them kind of perfect for pre-dinner drinks as well as pleasing your inner rum pirate and I took no time to decide on a Marley Mojito to start before moving onto Carribbean Pimms and Bahama Mamas which all have fantastic flavours to give you Caribbean vibes.
I have to say I hands down had the best starter and Chris was uber jealous. His duck rolls were delicious- there's no doubt about that but the prawns were just incredible. The whole shell king prawns are grilled over Turtle Bay's jerk pit, and tossed in a herb & chilli garlic butter with roti flatbread.
The flavours just explode in your mouth with the perfect balance of spice and garlic. The prawns were large and meaty and the flatbread was wonderfully soft and warm.
Oh god why I decided to write about this amazing food on the first day of my diet I don't know because right now I am craving a Turtle Bay takeaway. That's a thing by the way!
So the starters were a huge success and we were excited for our next course. Chris went for a classic Caribbean slow cooked one pot and went for the Curry Shrimp, King Prawn and Mango which also includes sweet potato, sweet onion chutney, steamed rice and a roti flat bread. And because Chris has a big appetite, he had a side of cheesy jerk fries which of course I had to sample- just to check for poison obviously....ahem...
I decided to go for a dish from the jerk pit bbq section of the menu; that I wouldn't normally chose and something I felt would be a challenge to be Caribbean- jerk sirloin steak. I mean it couldn't have that much of a Carribbean twist on it...right? It's steak and chips! Well I ate my words and my steak as I was very very wrong!
The jerk pit grilled prime sirloin steak came served with spiced fries, a dressed salad & sweet onion chutney, fresh green seasoning all in a creamy coconut jerk sauce. I asked for my steak medium rare and as you can see it was cooked to perfection.
The grilled steak and green seasoning, mixed in with the spicy fries definitely shouted Caribbean flavours and the salad certainly packed a punch too, full of life and flavour. It definitely was a unique dish that doesn't even compare to your bog standard steak and chips- it's on a totally different level.
The final course to finish our Caribbean date was dessert. If you read my post on the preview menu, you'll know I was really blown away and impressed by the puddings so it was inevitable I'd have to indulge once more...
Chris chose the Caymans upside down rum cake which was warm right through with a fabulous kick of rum caramel and ice cream to accompany it. Again I sampled it just to check it wasn't poisonous and could definitely picture eating it as a winter warmer when the colder months come.
I chose the banana and toffee cheesecake because well obviously cheesecake is life and I was again daring the desserts to disappoint me. I love banana but as a flavouring sometimes it can be rather overwhelming so I was dubious that this would be the case but yet again Turtle Bay nailed the flavours. This triple layered cheesecake had crispy biscuit base with incredibly soft creamy cheese that had a very subtle yet delicious hint of banana running through with the toffee.
I audibly made a noise of appreciation followed by lots of nodding to show my enjoyment of this dessert. It definitely was the perfect way to round off the meal even if I was crazy full by the end of it.
Once dinner was finished we were left to enjoy more cocktails and each others company on the rest of our Caribbean date night.
Returning to the restaurant was a real pleasure and the staff were just as attentive and wonderful as they were on the preview night. I left again feeling well fed and full of rum and cannot wait to go back. I'm actually going again in a few weeks with my colleagues so will get to experience the Caribbean social hub in another atmosphere once again.
If you haven't been to Turtle Bay yet I urge you to go. It's fast becoming one of my favourite places.