Turtle Bay bringing the Caribbean spirit to Brindleyplace in Birmingham city centre

Brindleyplace is one of Brimingham’s glittering nightlife hotspots - a favourite haunt for Brummies looking for happy times with friends and family.

The stylish waterfront development set along the canals often raises the eyebrows of visitors too - many not expecting the city of a thousand trades to feature such an alluring space.

But, like many leisure destinations across the country, Brindleyplace has lost some great venues lately. Argentinian steakhouse Pulperia has closed its doors along with long time Brummie Italian dining staple Cielo.

However the good time vibe is as strong as ever, with as many doors opening as they close. All Bar One has had an impressive makeover recently, along with Pitcher and Piano - and now the popular Caribbean bar and restaurant has opened a new venue on Oozles Square (opposite the Ikon Gallery).

Love reggae? Love rum? Love delicious food with a spice of sunshine? Well this is the place for you. Basically, if you love the good times and are up for a party, then Turtle Bay is a must visit.

So what’s on the menu?

As you might expect, the Turtle Bay kitchen team are masters in all the popular Caribbean dishes.

There’s a jerk pit, West Indian curries, soul food and more. On a recent visit we got to try out some amazing food - and it was reasonably priced too, as this isn’t always the cheapest part of town.

For starters I opted for the crispy chilli squid and was delighted with my generous portion of squid marinated in mildly spiced coconut milk. My friend chose the tasty sweetcorn fritters - crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, what’s not to love?!

For my main dish, I tried the jerk chicken which came with an interesting warning - ‘these flavours are addictive!’ They weren’t wrong. My smoky, chargrilled half half chicken was delicious. It came smothered in rich jerk gravy, thyme - and the Caribbean favourite, scotch bonnet.

My plentiful taste of the tropics came with a welcome portion of coconut rice and peas and slaw. I was a bit worried about food envy before our meals came out as my friend chose the Trini curry chicken for her main.

This was marinated chicken thighs with a tropically sweet mango, coconut thyme and chilli sauce - also served with coconut rice and peas. It looked amazing, and will definitely be my go to for my next visit.

The desserts looked fabulous, but so did the cocktails - and the traditional Saturday night Turtle Bay Happy Hour - from 9.30pm to close not far away we decided to save ourselves for then.

What drinks do they serve at Turtle Bay in Brindleyplace?

The first thing to note about a visit to Turtle Bay is that it’s happy hour every single day!

You can enjoy two for one cocktails and mocktails from Sunday to Saturday - and unlike many happy hours, as well as an earlier slot up to 7pm, there’s another one from 9.30pm to closing time each day which is perfect for partying. The other thing to note, is that it’s handy if you like rum - white, dark, spicy, it doesn’t matter, there’s plenty to choose from.

At Brindleyplace the sunshine spirit is served up in a variety of cocktails strawberry daiquiris, dessert island, a classic mojito, passion fruit rum punch - and so much more. In fact, you can check out the whole cocktail menu here

You can also just have rum! Whether you like Kinston 62 white, Duppy White or fancy trying Koko Kanu Coconut - there’s a great selection.

There’s also some steel bottom beers too - including Jamaican shandy and pink strike - and regular beers including the Jamaican classic Red Stripe.

Do I need to book?

You can book if you like, but there are plenty of walk in options too. So what are you waiting for? Bring some Caribbean sunshine into the darkening winter nights at Turtle Bay in Brindleyplace!

For more information and book go here: Turtley Bay Brindleyplace