Sofra Turkish Cafe & Restaurant

Sofra Turkish Cafe & Restaurant

Food acts as a warm blanket, gently caressing the emotions we face in today’s stressful society. An evening dinner at Sofra Turkish Cafe and Restaurant brings you to a warm and cosy haven that takes you on an exciting experience to scrape the surface of Turkish culture. Do not let its humble location in Shaw Towers fool you. It opened in January 2000 in our bustling city extending its reputation to new food explorers while still satisfying its long list of loyal customers.

Sofra has a unique concept of combining both a cafe and restaurant serving Turkish cuisines that is halal thus extending its market reach to Muslims as well. The story unfolds when you first step into the restaurant. Immediate attention from service crew directs you to your table while they patiently wait for your order to be taken.

Upon being greeted by Sofra’s classic orange menu, you have to navigate through a huge array of choices featuring the common classics, Chicken Baked Rice ($15.50) to traditional Turkish delights such as Iskender Kebab ($14.20) where you can be adventurous with beef, lamb and chicken meat choices or perhaps Pide ($12.50) a Turkish pizza.

After wrestling over the various dishes, my dining companion and I chose the Sofra Yaprak Tavuk ($19.50) and Guvec Tavuk(15.90) with a Chef’s Plate ($19.90) to share. Firstly, a perfect dish for the indecisive came first. The Chef’s Plate was a surprise at every turn. The combination of the delightful Doner Kebab, Izgara Kofte, and Shish kebap brought the different textures and tastes together.

Next, the Sofra Yaprak Tavuk exposes you to chicken meat stuffed with Turkish rice, mushrooms and vegetables, served with everyone’s all time favourite mash potatoes. While it looks pretty decent, there is a dry after taste that left me a little disappointed. Guvec Tavuk, an oven baked chicken dish accompanied with well marinated mushrooms. It is a great alternative to chicken baked rice lovers.

The best part about the menu is the special treats available to compliment the end of a meal. The dessert section had the Turkish rice pudding ($5.90) which was appealing. Eventually we went for the Turkish Chocolate Pudding with marshmallow ($5.40) and the Baklava ($5.90/2pc) which is a homemade Turkish fitto pastry topped with a touch of pistachios that called out to us. 

The Baklava tickles your senses with sweetness from drizzled syrup as it teases your tastes buds with every bite. It completely contrasts against the chocolate pudding that tasted like a mild dark chocolate compressed in pudding form.

A detour back to the restaurant after paying the bill left me at the cafe section of the restaurant sipping the tantalizing Turkish hot apple tea ($2.90) that wakes your senses after a completely full and satisfied meal. Turkish Coffee ($4.40) would be preferred only by taste buds that prefer a very strong tastes as it comes in a thick liquid form in sizes replicating drinking shots.

The pleasures of eating at Sofra go beyond the attentive service or the warm ambience. It is like a second home for many loyal customers to gather to enjoy the comforting experience of the concept of integrating great Turkish cuisine coupled with affordable price.

Sofra Turkish Cafe and Restaurant (est: Jan2000)

100 Beach Road #02-42/44

Shaw Tower

Shaw Leisure Gallery

Singapore 189702 (http://www.sofra.com.sg/)

Phone : +65 6291 1433

Recommended: Chef’s Plate and Guvec Tavuk