A brand new restaurant has opened in Coventry Cathedral Lanes and my goodness was I excited to try it out. With lovely Caribbean decor this place was booming with music, lovely smelling food and chatty customers. I was kindly invited down to Turtle Bay to review the new restaurant and their delicious new menu the vegan way. Of course it turned into a lovely date night for me and Adam so there is a wide variety of vegan and non vegan options in Turtle Bay for you to try. We picked out a varity of dishes to try, just so we had the proper taste of the place. Let's dive into the mouth watering review of Turtle Bay Coventry.
Starting with cocktails, they have such a wide variety of different cocktails, from your usual passion fruit martini to passion rum punch - which is what I tried and WOW did it not disappoint. This was my first time trying rum so it was a surprise to me to find out that I actually like it. The thing I loved the most about the cocktail menu was, it was all clearly marked vegan - so was the entire food menu! But they also have 2-4-1 cocktails most of the time, apart from a certain time in the evening 7pm-9:30pm sun-thurs and 7pm-10pm fri & sat where the 2-4-1 deal is closed. This is definitely somewhere I'd like to go on a evening out for cocktails again though to try out more tasty drinks whether it be cocktails or mocktails. The restaurant is also situated in a big area of different bars and restaurants so its a perfect place to start or pop in for drinks. All cocktails were priced at £9.00, not bad at all when with the 2-4-1 offer.
Now it's time for starters, we actually ordered so all the starters came with our mains so we could try it all together. Firstly, we tried the sweetcorn fritters, would you believe I've never tried before, which were covered in what I thought was sweet chilli sauce - my new obsession. But it was in fact a mango mole and a kick of hot sauce. They were so crisp and flavoursome, definitely met my expectations of tasting lovely on the first try. We also ordered a dish called Trini Doubles which sounded intriguing with the description being a soft bara roti - I had to google what a roti was as would you believe this was my first time trying Caribbean food! The roti was covered in curried chickpeas, which I've never been sure about but wanted to try, topped with cucumber chutney, shredded coconut and slight hot sauce. It was rather intriguing to try and the roti was lovely but I didn't feel so sure about the chickpeas, I just don't think I like chickpeas unfortunately, but I wanted to try new things during our time there and was quite happy I did.
Our last starter Adam chose and it was the Chilli Cheese Roti which was definitely our favourite - this was a vegetarian dish meanwhile everything I ordered was vegan, the menu was very clearly labelled on each dish what is vegan or vegetarian which was fabulous. The Roti dish was grilled to order with garlic butter, topped with melted cheddar cheese, fresh chilli, rocket and pickled pink onions. Adam absolutely loved this starter and I tried parts of the roti that didn't have cheese on and definitely thought the same - the restaurant should definitely make an option to make this vegan with vegan cheese as well on the menu so us vegans or lactose in tolerant people don't miss out. All of the small plate starters prices were £5.60 apart from a couple of dishes which were an extra £1.
Moving onto mains, I ordered something different to what I would usually order at a restaurant and went for tofu. Now I'm hit and miss with tofu but definitely liked the sound of how this was on the menu. Part of the Jerk Pit section of the menu, I ordered the Jerk Organic Tofu which was served with either coconut rice and peas or spiced fries - of course me being chip obsessed, spicy fries was certainly my first choice. The tofu was glazed in bay jerk sauce also with pineapple - pineapple in jerk sauce, legendary. I have to say, unfortunately I wasn't a fan of the tofu so much, I realise that tofu just isn't for me which is upsetting as I wanted to like it, but at least I tried it and I'm glad I did as the sauce was incredible. The price for the Jerk Organic Tofu was £11.80.
Adam went for the Shack Stack Burger which was a beef patty and jerk bacon smothered with melted cheese and bbq sauce, also topped with lettuce, tomato, red onion, chilli ketchup and mild jerk mayo minus a gherkin which he ordered without. With a side of dirty curry fries which did look pretty good. A dish full of fries smothered in curry sauce and top with cheese sounded lovely - Adam certainly devoured the whole lot and thoroughly enjoyed both dishes. The burgers are priced at £8 plus sides being £3.40.
Moving onto puddings, we couldn't not of tried the desserts in Turtle Bay, as we really wanted to get the full feel of the place and a proper taste for it. So me wanting to get the full Caribbean experience, tried the dessert called Affogato which was a vegan ice cream dish with a side of hot coffee - also had to ask google and the waitress what this actually was. I'm not a fan of coffee but I wanted to try this, and it was a lovely light dish to end a lovely dinner with. I chose vanilla vegan ice cream to go with the coffee which I lightly poured over the dish. It was actually quite a lovely mix to be honest. Adam chose the Banana Toffee Cheesecake with vegan vanilla ice cream he found quite nice but a rather sweet dish, so perfect for someone with a sweet tooth as it wasn't too sickly. Puddings were priced at £4.00 and ice creams were £1.00.
As for the overall experience of Turtle Bay, considering how I've never been but always wanted to, it was a lovely restaurant. The staff we so lovely, friendly and so helpful. The food didn't even take long to come out even though the restaurant was clearly fully booked. It was crazy seeing what used to be an empty building be turned into such a lovely space filled with lovely decor, a good size bar area to sit at and fabulous seating areas. I have to say, the restaurant was very very clean as well, which we all want after the past 2 years. I have to say they have done a brilliant job on the decor, even down to the toilets, the eye for detail was very much appreciated.
So, would I recommend this restaurant? Absolutely. The menu was brilliantly labelled for vegans and had such a brilliant variety for vegans and non vegans. The staff were brilliant, decor is stunning and a brilliant atmosphere overall. Thank you to the staff for being so welcoming and I thank them for having us for the evening.
*I was kindly invited to Turtle Bay Coventry to review the menu and restaurant itself. Please refer to my disclaimer for more information.*
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