Turtle Bay, Southampton

One of the perks of making a relationship work when you live in far apart cities (I can assure you, there are not many!) is that when you do see each other you use your time wisely. You now allow all those little extras you wouldn't normally - such as going out for dinner, cinema etc. all those extra splurges.

Whenever I am in Southampton, or J is in London, we always end up buying the nicest foods and going out for a scrummy dinner somewhere to spoil ourselves and catch up. Southampton was our university city so I know it fairly well. When I was a student, I used to lust after eating in all of these lovely places but being a student - budget did not allow! 

Towards the very end of my final year, up popped this cool looking Jamaican, Caribbean style bar and restaurant called Turtle Bay. I was always very keen to go to but I never did get around to it before leaving. When J got a job back in Southampton, we finally got around to going. I had been a few times for drinks (I can recommend the peanut butter and banana smoothie!) and always poured over the menu, thinking how delicious it all looked and saying we should come back for dinner sometime. On Tuesday evening, we did just that!

The last snap was me trying to get a shot of the cool bar in the middle of the place but our food starting arrving (that's it right there!) so ended up a little blurry! Thought it was a good action shot so kept it in though)

Turtle bay boasts a fantastic array of cocktails, smoothies and fruit punches that are to die for so I was hoping their food menu would match up. In case you weren't already won over, they have a happy hour on their cocktail menu where they are 2-4-1, a great thing to do for a night out with the girls, summer drinks outside or just if you fancy it.

I went for the hand pulled Chicken burger which came with bbq glaze in a grilled bun, served with Caribbean slaw & fries.

J had a jerk chicken flatbread which was topped with coriander, grilled tomatoes and fresh thyme.

We also had a bucket of sweet potato fries to share - who could resist these from any menu ;)

That is the end of the snaps as we couldn't wait any longer to tuck in - J was already annoyed enough that I made him take a pic of his flatbread - already tucking in there with that bitemark hey!

The food came out on wooden boards, and little metal buckets which I thought was a really nice touch. The food was absolutely delicious, but a little word of warning - not for the weak hearted when it comes to spice! I should have really figured that jerk chicken was quite spicey but I just saw the BBQ bit and was sold. The burger was so full of yummy flavours and the chicken was super succulent but damn, it was hot! We both found it super fiery but still yum. The flatbread was a lot more mild but still had a bit of a kick to it.

Both of the portion sizes were really generous considering that they were from the 'lunch 'n' light' section of the menu. We both left totally full up and satisfied. Couldn't quite manage a pud but the ones we did see whizzing out looked super scrummy and again, very generous portions. All in all, great value for money :)

I would definitely love to eat here again, the food was beautifully served up and came out really quickly - especially considering that it was a bank holiday weekend and there was hardly an empty table in the house. There is a large food and drinks menu to suit all tastes. The decor is so chilled that you could smarten up for a date or wear it casual for hanging out.

It's so nice to find places like this in Southampton popping up. There seems to be a lot of effort going in to 'doing up' certain areas of the city and if there are more places like this, I will certainly be happy.

E x

Weekend #2

Well I have to say, four days off is sometimes more exhausting than four days at work! J and I have packed as much as we possibly can in to those four days and now I am back at home, I can safely say that I am absolutely cream-crackered and totally ready for bed.

We had a lovely couple of days in London over the weekend, spending Saturday in East London, wandering around the markets, down Brick Lane and walking through Shoreditch and then on in to the City. It was nice to see this end of town as I do not usually get the time to explore as weekends are pretty hectic. We grabbed some picnic stuff and had lunch by the river and then walked along the Southbank in the sunshine. My favourite thing about this area is the fantastic Borough Market - so much to see and taste it's a whole different world down there. I would have loved to buy everything but I made do with sampling as much of everything as possible ;) .

After catching a small glimpse of the Flotilla on the Sunday, we headed down to Southampton as J was on call and so has to be 1hr away. It was a shame to miss London and all of its festivities but we ordered a cheeky Dominoes and then watched Queenie and co. in all their glory on telly. It was a good laugh to see the poor singers looking like drowned rats but being undeterred by the weather! Monday was a bit of a fail, starting off with locking ourselves out of the house and having to call back housemate from 30 miles away to come and help us back in! Thankfully it was saved by a nice wander around then shops and then rustling up a scrummy roast dinner followed by the rest of the Jubilee celebrations, toasting dear old Liz with a few glasses of wine.

Had a quiet day today, watching films and unwinding before heading out for some dinner and then on to a friends housewarming/birthday party - great to see some old friends and catch up. Then back on the M3 again for me in time for work tomorrow!

Goodnight all,

E x