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Review by Paul Nelson |
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ONE of the best finds I have made in several years is a restaurant that caters
for all tastes with considerable flair. It is right in the heart of the Covent
Garden theatre district, and does not break the wallet. I would never
have believed such a glorious orchid could flourish in the stony heart of
the West End.
The restaurant is called Sofra and can be found at 36 Tavistock Street,
WC2, handy for the cluster of theatres such as the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,
Lyceum, Strand, Fortune, Aldwych, Adelphi, Savoy and Vaudeville.
The food at Sofra is deliciously Middle Eastern with its incumbent aromas
and flavours. For starters there are forty-two different kinds of mezes, cold
dishes, soups and salads all for a modest £2.95 each. There are also
very interesting eastern delicacies, humus, falafel, kofte, chicken wings,
shish and specialities such as Albanian Liver from the Ottoman period, Drunken
Kalamar (marinated in vodka before frying), grilled garlic sausage, grilled
Cyprus cheese, and prawn, chicken and lamb guvech.
Main courses offer an Aladdin's Cave of delights. The Sofra charcoal grill
offers everything you would expect, from which for £7.75 you have the
choice of Lamb Kofte, Chicken Shish and the more exotic Adana Special, an
exciting hot version of kofte from Adana in the famous culinary region of
Cukurova. Chilli peppers are included in a mixture of minced lamb and flavourings
served on a bed of Basmati rice.
The Charcoal Grill section continues with such tempting dishes as Special
Mixed Grill, which offers a mixture of marinated meats, served with minced
lamb on Basmati rice (£8.25) and steaks, an 8oz sirloin as you like
it (14.95) and a 6oz pepper steak for the same price grilled as you wish and
dressed with steak sauce, brown sugar and salt with crushed peppercorns.
The menu also has a section called Healthy Meals, minimum for two people,
containing eleven different hot and cold mixed mezes, high in nutrients and
all adaptable to vegetarian requirements.
Middle Eastern guvechs (a guvech is a casserole) are typical types of regional
home cooking. They can be ordered with or without chilli. Favourites here
include kidney and liver along with the usual meats, all slowly cooked to
release their flavours and individual scents (all under £8) crowned
by Hunkar Begendi (£8.45), otherwise known as Sultan's Delight which
is an esteemed marriage of diced, gently stewed lamb and smoky-flavoured aubergine
puree.
Equally tempting is the selection of vegetarian and pasta dishes which can
be enjoyed for under £7. One dish, intriguingly named Silk Route is
a bright medley of vegetables and includes mangetout, mushrooms, aubergine,
red and green peppers, rapidly sautéed to retain some bite. Flavourings
for this dish, which is very popular, have travelled from the Orient to Istanbul,
a journey reminiscent of the Silk Route.
The restaurant also boasts a seafood section of its dishes with delicacies
to which anyone could be drawn. Its star attraction is a simply prepared Dover
Sole with the choice of it being grilled, deep fried, on the bone or filleted,
and served with baby potatoes and mangetout. For pre-theatre purposes this
requires some planning as an allowance for twenty-five minutes cooking time
must be made.
The desserts are mouth-watering selections from the Middle East, blended from
cream, yoghurt, fresh and dried fruits and ice cream. Brandies and liqueurs
are inexpensive and the selection of coffees and teas are so tasty they are
guaranteed to give pain to such establishments as Starbucks.
However, attractive and elaborate as all these dishes are, for the practical
theatre-goer, be it a matinee or evening performance, the great boon to this
area of London is the Two Course Meal, which is served between 12 noon and
7.00pm. This offers complimentary appetisers of humus, black and green olives
in herbs and bread; a first course choice of humus, kisir, tabbouleh, soup
or salad with fetta cheese.
To follow, the second course choices are, served with French fries or rice,
grilled beefsteak, lamb filet, chicken breast or kofte, and with a bed of
rice, lamb casserole, chicken casserole, and a vegetarian dish (the Silk Route).
There is in addition a choice of Pasta with fetta cheese.
Tell the maitre d' that you are going to the theatre and the service, at all
times excellent, becomes electric. Arriving at 6.15pm, our meal was served
and eaten in good time for a 7.30pm curtain-up time.
For my part, I ate with relish the two choices I made; a red lentil soup and
lamb casserole.
It is difficult to relay all the interesting meals this delightful find has
on offer. There are several that I would like to try, and in future no doubt
will. One of them is Midye Tava a dish well known in the Middle East's coastal
regions. This consists of mussels deep-fried in a light batter served with
a sauce of oil, garlic, breadcrumbs and yoghurt.
My last accolade to bestow on this excellent restaurant, which is surprisingly
large when you enter and continue through a narrow bar area, is to report
the Two Course Meal costs just £6.95. It is available for parties of
up to eight persons. Now in the West End that is something!
Sofra Restaurant and Bar Covent Garden. 36 Tavistock Street, London WC2.
Open seven days a week. A 12.5% optional service charge is added. 020 7240
3773.