Turtle Bay brings some serious energy to the centre of Middlesbrough. Close to the home of Middlesbrough FC, as well as the station and the river, this is a perfect spot to come for a vibrant breakfast and lunch or a great spot for drinks and dinner on a match day. Turtle Bay’s food is never going to be classed as haute cuisine but for a chain, it’s got plenty of soul and the space has tonnes of energy. From the outside you might not be able to tell but once inside, a host of colours mixes with wacky furniture and the sound of cocktail makers and open flames from the jerk pit.
The all-day Caribbean-infused menu offers plenty of tempting choices; for breakfast you can choose from things like the big Kingston grill down (the Caribbean answer to an English breakfast) to the pancake stack-style Honey Bunny Yardbird with rotis and fried chicken. The main menu offers soul food from a section on the menu with the same name as well as dishes from the jerk pit, West Indian curries and lighter options like buddha bowls. A selection of small plates, that can double up as starters, are perfect if you want to have some nibbles with drinks, not that these should be considered second rate, with choices like jerk pit wings and mac and cheese bites.
The drinks list has everything you might want, but mainly focuses on a long list of rums and inventive cocktails like the UB40 - white rum, raspberry, blackberry, ginger beer and red wine - the latter of which can be best enjoyed during the daily happy hours. On any day of the week you can enjoy bottomless brunch which will see you choose from a selected list of dishes from the menu as well as two hours of bottomless cocktails, mocktails, beer and Prosecco.