Turtle Bay Ealing Broadway

Review

Price: 2 people, £40-45

A new restaurant had popped up in Ealing and we had twice passed and seen happy people delving into comforting Caribbean fare. Keen to be in on what everyone else had been enjoying over the past few weeks, we decided that some hearty homely Caribbean food would probably hit the spot on the first bitter night of the autumn.

Rather pleased at 2for1 cocktails during happy hour, we got started with a few and got some sweet corn fritters and dumplings to start. The dumplings seemed like the same batter as used in the fritters, just fried on their own. But they were very light and non-oily. The sweet corn fritters had a bit of a kick and sharpness to them. A big bowl of them with a pint of something at the bar would probably be the perfect late afternoon snack.

Working through our cocktails, we went for curry goat and jerk ribs for our mains. The goat was well cooked, well seasoned and very soft. The coconut shavings on the top were a great touch and accentuated the rich, nutty, goat flavour. The curry didn’t seem a terribly authentic version; we didn’t think the spice mix was particularly traditional, but this didn’t bother us too much. One thing though - with a rich meaty sauce like that, we would have liked more than two small pieces of pitta alongside. The dumplings came in useful here. The jerk ribs come with coleslaw and your choice of rice’n’peas, sweet potato mash or sweet potato fries. I went for the fries. The ribs were absolutely superb. They were smokey, with a nice bark, but unbelievably tender close to the bone. They are served with a sour orange chutney that does the same job as a good BBQ sauce - the sharpness helps boost the meat flavours and marry meat with veg. The coleslaw was crisp and refreshing, the coriander running through it was very pleasant. Fries will always be fries, but these were cooked well will a crisp, ruffled skin.

With cocktails during happy hour (12:00-19:00 and 22:00-close) and food, expect to pay around £45 for a starter and main for 2 people. For hearty, warming food that’s comforting and full of flavour, this represents brilliant value and I would wholeheartedly recommend Turtle Bay to anyone passing through this part of West London.