Restaurante Artefact — Restaurant in Tavira

We passed this charming little spot on a wander around town, and enquired about booking in. We were able to get an outside table for a few days later, as the inside tables book up far ahead of time. If you are heading to Tavira, book now! We each had a starter and a main course, mine was the Flambéed prawns, served with a finely chopped salad and baguette slices with butter. This was an extremely flavourful dish, especially with the French bread to swipe up all of the sauce. The only drawback was that such a finely chopped salad is a bit difficult to eat, especially with the small cutlery provided for the first course. A small, but leafy salad would be preferable. The beef carpaccio was nicely seasoned, and of course very tender. The chopped salad was easier to eat alongside the soft beef and crispy croutons. The Duck confit with Cherry sauce and frites was really excellent. The house made salty frites were perfect! The vegetable side of peas was ok, but lacked the sweetness of fresh peas that one would expect. Altogether a fine dish though. The Turbot Meunière was cooked to perfection, and the cauliflower and leek gratin suited it very well as a side dish. The potato choice of the potato/sweet potato/celeriac mash was not as pleasing, and I would have preferred a plain pomme purée, or even the frites. Perhaps simply too many strong flavours together on one plate. I generally prefer main courses to be determined by the chef who understands best what will be the most pleasing components together, as opposed to a “choose your own” menu. Or even a little guidance from the servers who are familiar with the dishes? Perhaps it is easier this way instead of diners asking for substitutions. Overall, this is not a criticism, I do look forward to returning again to this delightful dining establishment with very high standards of customer care. Next time we will leave a little room to...

True happiness is eating at Artefact

We travel widely for both work and holidays and Artefact is genuinely one of the most wonderful restaurant experiences we have encountered. The restaurant itself is very comfortable (no cramped seating, no rushing customers in and out) and it is artistically designed. The chef is hugely talented and the food is innovative and delicious. Our 14 year old niece who is vegetarian was so pleased when the Chef discussed what sort of sauce she would like. The chef also has a great sense of humour! The service was exceptional, great knowledge of food and wine and very attentive. We had really interesting discussions about the food, different types of wine, the ethos of the restaurant and a lot of fun and laughter with the lovely man that served us. Artefact is a restaurant that really cares about the quality of food and service, rather than about just making a quick profit. Can't wait...

Another Superb meal at Artefact. The whole experience was amazing, I'm writing this only an hour or so after finishing the meal. The welcome is friendly and sincere. We shared a home made chicken liver paté with a port gelatine topping, fabulous For my main course I had fillet steak with herby peas with lardons and tomatoes which was fantastic 😋, with a lovely glass of Foral Don Diniz Alentejo red wine. My wife had seafood (red snapper, prawn and monkfish) cataplana with ratatouille 😋 with a tasty vinho verde alvarinho. We were too full to have a dessert. The service was first class, friendly and helpful. I would thoroughly recommend Artefact to anyone. It was also great value for money considering the quality...