On Saturday I tried some new cuisine.

Or to be more accurate, the four of us did, even little Leo! We were kindly invited along to the new Turtle Bay restaurant in Sheffield to try out their menu as a family and to say we enjoyed every minute is probably an understatement.

We absolutely loved it.

The new Carribbean restaurant and bar is set right bang in the heart of the city centre (opposite Sheffield City Hall and near to John Lewis for those who are local) and we arrived on a very sunny day to a very friendly welcome.

Inside the decor is modern and as bright and colourful as you’d expect from a Carribbean restaurant and Elsie in particular loved the large, bold drawings on the wall, like this one…

Naturally Reggae music plays in the background ( I bet it’s absolutely fabulous on a Friday or Saturday night, to get your groove on to!) and overall the vibe is relaxed and friendly.

The menu is huge! And perhaps at first glance, could be a little overwhelming, particularly if like us, you’ve not really tried or eaten Carribbean food before. However, the great array of choice means that there’s so much food to choose from, from lighter weekday lunch type options to full on pig out dishes. (I’ll give you two guesses as to which ones we went for!)

However, if you do get stuck or are struggling to decide what is best to order, then the helpful staff are the people to ask! Our server Richard did a fantastic job at not only looking after us all brilliantly but also recommending delicious dishes to us to try or explaining them in a bit more detail.

After some deliberation and a couple of recommendations, we eventually settled on the Just Jerk Platter with a side order of Okra Ladies’ Fingers for starters and the One Curry Goat Pot and West Indian Steamed Snapper for mains with a couple of side orders of Jerk Halloumi and Sweet Plaintain. (I kid you not, my mouth is watering just remembering it all!)

Elsie shared our starter ( it’s pretty big so depending on how hungry you are could easily feed four people I reckon) and had a Chicken Flatbread off the ‘Little Turtles’ kids menu for her mains whilst Leo refused pretty much anything but absolutely loved the Sweet Plantain! (If you’ve got a baby or toddler, this is a really good choice if they’re a fan of banana.)

Drink wise, Jamie savoured his cold pint of Red Stripe, Elsie loved her Berry Smoothie and I can recommend the delicious Pineappleade which is without doubt one of the nicest soft drinks I’ve ever tasted.

So how was the food?

Well, in a nutshell, it was pretty damn delicious. ALL of it. The dishes were all incredibly tasty so we happily tucked in and ‘filled our boots’ as Jamie likes to say!

The food was pretty spicy – which is great for us as we love spicy food – but if you’re not a fan, do make sure you ask for some recommendations for milder dishes so you’re not unpleasantly surprised by the heat.

The starter was a great selection of meaty treats and a really good introduction to the legendary Caribbean spices and flavour and surprisingly, Elsie loved the spicy chicken wings so much she declared them her new favourite food. Whilst I fell in culinary love with the Okra Ladies’ Fingers! So good, I could have eaten more than one full bowl easily.

Main meal wise, Jamie’s curry was a truly yummy pot of delight and my snapper (something I’ve never eaten before) was delicate and steamed to perfection. It’s little accompaniment of pineapple chow was one of my favourite tastes of the day too.

Elsie’s main was enjoyed (which is always a relief) however the only thing I would say is that the kids menu is a little on the small side and that the kids dishes don’t have the Carribbean flavour that perhaps you’d expect.  I totally understand this of course, kids can be fussy! However, as Elsie proved by happily tucking into the marinated jerk chicken wings, many kids can have a much more discerning palette than we give them credit for. So if your child is similar to Elsie, you might want to consider letting them order from the starters (known as ‘cutters’) or letting them share a main with you instead.

After a thoroughly delicious meal, we finished with a desert.

Richard our waiter very kindly brought Elsie a scoop of simple vanilla ice cream as that was really all she wanted whilst Jamie and I smacked our lips in delight, as we sampled the fabulous Spiced Rum & Chocolate Pot.  Another one of my favourites! Word of advice, this pudding is truly delicious but very rich, which means there’s more than enough for at least two if not three people to enjoy.

All in all, as I said right at the beginning, we loved every single second of our Turtle Bay experience.

The food is really, really good but perhaps more important than that, is the friendly service. As a family it isn’t always the easiest thing to eat out with little people in tow (!), but the staff here did everything to make it as enjoyable and as simple as possible for us and for that, as an exhausted mum, I cannot thank them enough.

Will we be back?

Abso-bloomin-lutely!

Jamie and I are already planning our next date night so we can hotfoot it back and enjoy that great Caribbean food and laid back, feel-good vibe as soon as possible. I mean come on, they even do a happy hour on cocktails. It would be rude not to, wouldn’t it?

If you’re South Yorkshire based like me, do yourself a favour and go and sample the Caribbean flavour of Sheffield’s new Turtle Bay restaurant as soon as possible. You’ll love it.