Eating Out: A long-awaited takeaway from Tejanos, Northallerton

We’ve always liked it, not least because it has managed to survive arguably the most inhospitable environment for restaurants in North Yorkshire – namely the county town’s High Street.

It has done so without the benefit of a High Street frontage. In normal times you really have to seek it out, via an entrance down an alleyway by the side and Lakeland Leather. Beyond the first-floor signage, the clues to its presence are not obvious.

That speaks of above and beyond staying power and they have mostly traded through the last year either properly open or offering takeaways and delivery services. Trouble was during the first lockdown it was so popular we could never get through to place an order.

We finally had a takeaway from Tejanos a fortnight ago thanks to the introduction of a Facebook Messenger ordering system.

We enjoyed it. But there’s a problem. A week ago Tejanos announced on its Facebook page that it would no longer offer a takeaway service – “to protect our staff and in the future interests of the business”.

So you’ll have to wait a while – until Tejanos is able to open as a sit-down restaurant again – to put my assessment to the test.

That might be a good idea anyway because based on our experience three of the dishes we sampled would definitely be better served straight from the Tejanos kitchen to the table.

Our starters and the dessert didn’t survive well the ten-minute journey (eight minutes plus two minutes for the Low Gates level crossing delay) from the High Street to home.

The halloumi fries (£4.95) and the Cajun battered prawns (£5.95) had been beautifully packaged in pretty-patterned greaseproof paper and cardboard containers but the 15 minutes between the deep-fat fryer and our plates had taken its toll – the fries had lost their crispness and the thick and spicy batter on the prawns had gone rather soggy. The prawns, however, once eased out of the past-its-best batter, were sensationally plump and juicy.

With our churros dessert (£4.95), we reheated the pastry dough fingers because they were stone cold by the time we had tackled the starters and the main course – all of which were very substantial dishes.

Whether we overdid it I’m not sure but they were over-crisped by the time it came to dip them in the chocolate sauce. As churros are quintessential Latin street food, made to be consumed on the hoof fresh from the fryer, it was perhaps not surprising they didn’t work for us as a takeaway dish.

The main courses had fared much better on their journey home

The half rack of pork barbecue ribs had been roasted long and slow so a few extra minutes would never had made much difference to how they tasted. And it was good, with the pork falling off the bone and coated in a rich, sticky, mild (there is a choice of three strengths – mild, medium and hot) barbecue sauce.

Ribs from Tejanos, Northallerton

It came with a creamy coleslaw and some chips which were still in decent shape after their journey.

Our other main course was a fajita chicken burrito (£8.95) the size of a small artillery shell. It was big.

The burrito from Tejanos, Northallerton

A 12-inch soft tortilla wrap filled with lime and coriander rice, salsa, cheese, sour cream, lettuce and roasted peppers, was fresh and spicy and served with some tortilla chips and a salsa sauce. Absolutely beautiful.

I’m sorry if this has got you drooling. You’ll just have to add a visit Tejanos to the list of thing you are looking forward to doing once we are all able.

In the meantime we can recommend a few places that definitely still are doing takeaways and to the best of my knowledge, at this moment as I write these words, right now, they will continue to offer this service – until they don’t of course. Nothing is guaranteed.

Subject to those terms and conditions we suggest you try some of our favourites from the last ten months all of them in and around Northallerton.

Topping the list is the Arden Arms at Atley Hill, closely followed by the Wellington Heifer at Ainderby Steeple but wait, hang on, we’ve just heard that it is closing this week to carry out a big refurbishment. That’s another to put on your list for when the good times return.

The Village Inn at Brompton won’t let you down and neither will the Beeswing at East Cowton. You’ll remember we were quite enthusiastic about the Red Chilli Indian and it’s a tough call to choose between the fish and chips at the White Horse café and Katch (the White Horse probably takes it by a short head but the queues can be epic).

If I tell you that none of the above establishments are more than ten minutes or less than five minutes’ drive from Chez Warne, you can probably work out via a triangulation exercise exactly where we live. A little lockdown boredom-busting exercise for you.

Tejanos

1st Floor, 182 High Street, Northallerton DL7 8JZ

Tel: 01609 777770 Web: Tejanos.co.uk

Open: not at the moment sadly

Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 8, Social distancing 10 Being open 0 Value 9