Turtle Bay and Red Hot World Buffet to open in Nottingham’s Cornerhouse development
Caribbean concept Turtle Bay, which also has venues in Milton Keynesand Southampton,is undertaking a complete renovation of a vacant unit on the corner of Forman Street and Burton Street, transforming the site into a ‘Caribbean island’. The restaurant will be managed by Dennis Janisse and is set to open next month.
The 4,500 sq.ft Turtle Bay site will provide 120 covers and a street-style open kitchen overseen by head chef Rahul Chitnis will offer dishes such as curried goat, jerk chicken and Jamaican fried bait. A central beach bar will also feature, with bar supervisor Harry Stirland giving customers a choice of over 30 different Caribbean rums to create island cocktails.
“We are trying to recreate a holiday vibe right here in Nottingham with our open street kitchen and island beach bar,” said Turtle Bay’s founder Ajith Jayawickrema. “We want to offer our customers something unique, after all everyone has tried the likes of Italian, Chinese and American food.
“Nottingham seemed like a fantastic choice for our third restaurant and the Cornerhouse is a perfect location in the city centre, close to the theatre and the two universities.”
Jayawickrema was one of the founders of Las Iguanas.After leaving the casual dining chain in 2009,he launched the Turtle Bay concept in 2010, having acquired a former Dim T site in Milton Keynes in an off-market deal.
Suzanne Green, manager at the Cornerhouse added: “Visitors to the Cornerhouse can almost travel around the world when they visit us with so many different tastes and flavours on offer under one roof.
“It’s an exciting time for us with Turtle Bay opening in October and other new operators due to be announced very soon.”
Red Hot World Buffet
Meanwhile, world dining concept Red Hot World Buffet, which launched its first restaurant in Nottingham in 2004, has chosen to relocate the venue to a 27,000 sq.ft site in the Cornerhouse complex as the business hopes to take advantage of higher footfall as well as the increased floor space.
Director and co-founder Helen Dhaliwal said: “When we first opened in the Lace Market it was a thriving part of the town, but since the Cornerhouse opened trade has shifted to the other part of the town, so we thought it would be best to move to where it is all happening.
“We are hoping to keep our existing site, however. It won't operate as a restaurant - we will probably use it as an R&D facility. It was our first ever site, it's like my baby so I haven't got the heart to get rid of it."
Work has just got underway on the new Red Hot World Buffet restaurant and there is not yet a planned opening date.
Other restaurants at the Cornerhouse include Bella Italia, Chiquito, Nando’s, TGI Friday’s and Wagamama. The leisure and retail development was purchased in May 2012 by Land Securities, which owns a total of 24 shopping centres and 17 retail parks across the UK.
