Eating out locally: Tikeira

Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to review a local restaurant.

As someone who lives to eat, when presented with an opportunity like that, it’s a no-brainer. The difficulty arose when trying to decide where to eat.

Although my ‘local’ stretch of Dewsbury Road is awash with takeaways, there is a shortage of restaurants. Undeterred, I took several strolls and spent a questionably long time searching Google. Why so long, you ask?

Because I have menu anxiety. I love food so much that I want (no, need) to see the menu in advance. The thought of having to make a rash choice in order to prevent waiting staff becoming exasperated by my indecision brings me out in a cold sweat.

However, of the few sit-down restaurants in the target area, only two had menus online or on Facebook. By coincidence, one of the two was recently visited by a friend who assured me he’d had a good meal.

This was important, as I would have otherwise been put off by first impressions. The restaurant in question is Tikeira (Formerly Duvaas), based at 246 Dewsbury Road, near Tunstall Road and serving largely Portuguese food.

The reason I was initially hesitant was because due to decals on the windows, you can’t see inside. However, given the somewhat less-than-scenic view of Dewsbury Road, this turned out to be a blessing.

Being disorganised, I didn’t book a table. However, my companion and I were greeted warmly and seated where we wished, as there was only a small table of customers already there when we arrived at 7:30pm.

We did promptly move tables when we realised we were sitting right next to the speakers. The music here is loud. But the barman/waiter did notice, and duly turned down the music without us having to ask.

Surroundings were clean and bright and we were provided with a menu straight away. Our waiter (the only member of staff I saw, although I presume there was a chef ‘in the back’) was kind enough to point out a couple of dishes that were unavailable, thus saving me more menu anxiety. This restaurant buys fresh ingredients, and as a result, the fish of the day was absent.

No matter. I decided on the Camarao, described as shrimp but which, happily for this seafood lover, turned out to be huge shell-on prawns in a zingy citrus sauce. Finger bowl included, which again was good, because I made a right royal mess. My friend had the Bifana, a thin and tender pork steak sandwich flavoured with garlic sauce and paprika.

Mains were Bife com cogumelos (Beef steak) in a creamy mushroom and onion sauce for my friend, once again flattened and tender. My choice was the Feijoada, a rich stew of mutton, chorizo, tomato sauce, black beans and paprika. The waiter informed me this is originally a Brazilian dish.

With sides of rice and fries, we weren’t going to need a late-night snack. Thankfully, our waiter kept us topped up with delicious cocktails throughout.

Both myself and my friend agreed the food was very good indeed, and good value. Our waiter was polite, attentive and friendly, something often missing in these modern times.

We might be spoilt for choice living so close to City Centre restaurants, but for those who wish to support local, I’d encourage a visit to Tikeira.

This post was written by Lauran Warren

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