Sofra

The Christmas sales are now on, with massive discounts up to 70%, and of course I was dragged to Oxford St by M so that she could continue her shopping. I have already endured two days of this, once on Boxing day and on Saturday. [At least, I had a really good meal at Gold Mine with D and his gf.] So this is my third day trapped in the hordes. Interestingly, I didn't buy a single thing even though numbers and percentages were flashing at me at every turn. I guess all that I am concerned with is being fed.

So we went to St Christopher place to try out some of the restaurants there. Its a tiny area at the side of Bond St, with a number of high end stores populating it. M saw this Turkish restaurant Sofra and wanted to try it. We were hoping that its as good as Antalya, the Turkish restaurant in Nottingham but sadly it was not to be. M ordered Broccoli soup and Chicken tagine. For me, its the Borek platter and the Kofte.



The soup was alright, competent but nothing exceptional. M didn't like it as there was no cream in it.



My Borek platter consisted of a chicken and leek pasty, a corned beef pasty and a feta cheese and corianger pasty. Again, nothing really special and I think Antalya does it so much better.



M didn't like the chicken tagine as well. The chicken was overcooked, probably because it was braised in the tomato mixture for way too long.



I like my rice and I was trying to figure why it tasted so good. Trust the butter expert to tell me straight that the rice was cooked with butter. The kofte was savoury, its basically grilled minced lamb meatballs with herbs but I have this nagging suspicion that its premade, cooked from a packet as it didn't have a certain texture to it, it felt too crunchy, like a fish cake, the Chinese kind with all the preservatives. Again, Antalya does it so much better. I am starting to get a really strong craving for Antalya's food, I might go there when I go for my viva in Feb.

In all, a very average lunch experience. I prefer to look elsewhere for Turkish food especially since the service was absolutely atrocious. Aside from this restaurant, I have never seen waiters with no expressions on their faces whatsoever and a refusal to look you in the eye when you speak to them. At least, Chinese waiters look at you with utter disdain.