Food & Drink

Review: Brixton’s Turtle Bay offers Sunshine Bellinis and a Caribbean vibe at its bottomless brunch

I’ve been to Turtle Bay before to celebrate a friend’s birthday and, as a lover of all things Caribbean, enjoyed the jerk-infused dishes and youthful playlist.

So when I heard that Turtle Bay was launching a new brunch menu I was super excited.

Bottomless brunch events have exploded in the UK over the past three years with social media timelines advertising the next installments of music-themed brunch, from hip-hop to nostalgic pop.

It seems Turtle Bay has taken advantage of this knowledge by offering a punchy brunch menu from 10-3 every day.

Better still, if you and your squad wanted to make an event of it, a bottomless brunch featuring unlimited Sunshine Bellinis with any brunch dish costs £25 per head.

I arrived just after midday and was warmly greeted by my designated waitress and a Buju Banton classic being spun by the DJ.

The interior, as expected, was filled with splashes of red, green, yellow. Black and yellow steel pans cleverly accented the ceiling, all in the presence of a smiling Bob Marley portrait.

Toilet facilities were clean as you would expect.

The brunch dishes are inexpensive – costing under £11 and feature more meat-free options.

I ordered the Big Vegan Grill Down to accompany my Reggae Rum Punch cocktail that I was carelessly drinking like juice.

I added scrambled eggs from the extras menu for a frugal £1.50 and sweet potato fries (I was hungry!) from the side plate offerings at £3.

Cocktails are under £8 and are 2-4-1 during Happy Hour, in certain restaurants cocktails will be 2-4-1 across the August bank holiday weekend.

The Big Vegan Grill Down features jerk mushrooms, curried chickpeas, roasted tomatoes, avocado smash, sweet plantain with grilled roti.

When the colourful plate warmly arrived on my table, I didn’t really know where to begin but I got stuck into the curried chickpeas and roti. It was excellent with enough spice, which was cooled down by the creamy avocado smash.

I cut up my sweet plantain to team up with the fresh-tasting mushrooms and tomatoes in each glorious mouthful of Big Vegan brunch.

Before I knew it, the once colourful plate had emptied; it was delicious. The portion size was generous and I wasn’t uncomfortably full.

The sweet potato fries were standard and also well portioned.

The new menu offers so much variety and choice at a price kind to the pocket. Turtle Bay oldies (such as myself) will also be happy with favourites still on the menu.

If all the Turtle Bay branches serve up brunch, cocktails and chilled Caribbean vibes like this Brixton chain – I would definitely recommend it – you won’t be disappointed!

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