Situated on Birmingham's once thriving John Bright St, Turtle Bay is one of nine similar restaurants in the UK. If you like your chicken jerked or your pork pulled then this is the place for you. The food looked and smelt amazing however that wasn't our raison d'etre that night, we (myself and fellow Blue Noses Matt and Gaz) were at Turtle Bay for cheap drinks !!
The cocktail menu is as exhaustive as the food menu but there's no sign of slippery nipples in this venue, all the cocktails have a Caribbean theme, and almost without exception, they contain rum which is hardly a surprise seeing as Turtle Bay sells forty different types of the favourite spirit of the Caribbean.
You can have a Reggae Rum Punch, a Jamaican Mule, a Tobago Tea but I was torn between two cocktails named after the legendary king of reggae. Did I opt for a Jammin' (unsurprisingly a rum based drink) or a Marley Mojito (another one containing rum)? Marley Mojito won the day which for information was special rum, midori, fresh mint and water melon, and home made ginger beer. It really satisfied my soul !!
Matt went down the Island Ice Tea route whilst Gaz showed great taste in choosing a Marley Mojito..
The place itself is really lively, the food is really popular and the two for one cocktails are an absolute winner. It is decked out in what you would expect of a Caribbean establishment albeit a manufactured one...
It may be a bit obvious but it works.
The soundtrack to the place is naturally reggae, both old school and more up to date though I'm quite glad that there speakers we were sat by were there just for show..
The sound system would not have looked out of place at the Notting Hill carnival !!
Such was the laid back Caribbean vibe of the place that we almost forgot that we'd got a match to go to, the first with a new manager. Marley's words have never been so apt, 'Don't worry about a thing, 'cos every little thing's gonna be all right'. Well, that's what we hoped anyway !!
EDIT Every little thing was all right, we won 2-1 !!
UPDATE 11th November
Once again I was at a work rabble rousing event this time at the National Motorcycle Museum near the NEC. I had managed to bag myself a lift back to Five Ways afterwards so I was able to meet my mate Gray on time at our arranged meeting point of Turtle Bay.
The roadshow (do you remember when that word conjured up visions of summer events held at the seaside hosted by family friendly names like Jimmy Savile and Dave Lee Travis?!!) was a big budget production and, given the fact that folk had travelled from far and wide to attend, we were all provided with a picnic tea to take with us on departure. This was very handy for me as I was able to tuck into my cheese and pickle sandwiches and crisps as I was on route to the pub. I gave my apple and chocolate muffin a miss and did the same to my bottle of still water preferring instead to go down the Red Stripe route when I arrived at the bar...
Gray was already there and we spent the first few minutes reliving the events of a few days earlier when we met up (with our respective other halves) for an all dayer in Lichfield. It seems like I wasn't the only one feeling the pace by the end of proceedings !!
I had drunk cocktails on my previous visit to this fine venue but I can heartily recommend pints of Caribbean beer Red Stripe even if getting served can be a bit of a problem, it appears the lure of two for one cocktails is too good to miss for thirsty Brummies !!
The reason for our Tuesday night meet up was that we were going to see Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford (from Squeeze) perform at the Birmingham Town Hall so what could have been more appropriate that a few pre show drinks in a Caribbean themed bar?!!
The place has got a great vibe about it, helped by the sound of some fine mainstream and some lessor known reggae tunes. I love Jimmy Cliff's The Harder They Come but will admit to never previously hearing Praise Ye Jah by Sizzla !! I thought sizzla may be a way of serving up jerk chicken !!
We only stopped briefly (okay that's a bit of a lie, it was more three little pints than three little birds) but we wanted to ensure that we didn't miss the start.
I pooped to the loo before we left and witnessed a man having one of the most thorough hand washes that I have ever seen. He scrubbed up all the way to his elbows, it reminded me of the preparations tv vet James Herriot used to go through before he shoved his hand up a cow's backside !! Maybe it was the chef and he was preparing to internally apply curry sauce to the goat !!
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