Dada, City Centre, Sheffield

And it was again time for a catch up with a friend from work I see far too little of.  We are a wine-and-cheese-partner-come-pick-me-up-I'm-very-drunk kind of a couple when we get together.  Generally this means we stumble around each other's houses of a weekday afternoon but we wanted some fresh air.  So my friend recommended Dada on Trippet Lane.

Dada mostly does sharing platters, so the choice seemed ideal.  We opted for 3 cheeses, pate, chorizo, olives, pomodorello tomatoes, hummous and two different types of tapenade.  It also came with a basket of bread and butter and crackers.  We coupled this with a chilled bottle of dry white wine.  The result was utterly delicious.  The tapenades and hummous were home made and tasted like it (in a good way).  There was plenty of them, I was eating the hummous with my fingers when we ran out of things to spread it on and the tapenade choices were unusual enough to be interesting.  We weren't exactly spoiled for choice on the cheeses, but the ones we did opt for were adequate.  Don't get me wrong, they complimented the rest of the board very well indeed, but they were run of the mill cheeses, nothing jumped out at me.  The same with the meats.  The chorizo and pate added depth of flavour and texture to the board, again complimenting the rest of the choices we made but not something you can't get anywhere else.

I am being harsh here.  Overall the deli board was exactly what we wanted.  It was a little bit different to the sharer platters offered else where and whilst we didn't pick them, the other options were very ploughman's lunchish and would have made a nice addition to the meats and cheeses.  The service was fast and friendly.  The venue being what it is, the interior can't help but be dark though not oppressively so.  More like a bar in town when they turn down the lights for 'ambiance'.  They've altered the decor from when it was a wine bar just enough for it to be obvious the place has changed hands.  The only real complaint I have is that we paid the extra £1.50 for bread of the day, for it to be just 3 slices of bread.  Considering the amount of spreadable items on the platter, I would have expected twice that.

I would give Dada a 8.5/10.  Unusual enough to check it out and definitely one I would recommend should you wish for a cheese and wine day yourself.  We will be going back ourselves in hopefully the not too distant future.