Sofra Authentic Turkish Cuisine

I recently had the pleasure of dining at Sofra Authentic Turkish Cuisine, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Now, I like to think that I truly appreciate ethnic foods, and love trying new tastes and spices. Mediterranean food is especially attractive to me, being known to be packed with flavor and rich in cultural influence.

For my dining experience, I had the lucky opportunity to sample Turkish cuisine with a friend of mine that is actually Turkish. It’s not every day that I get to appreciate a certain genre of food with someone that possesses so much personal knowledge of a specific style of cuisine, and that heightened the enjoyment.

Décor-wise, Sofra is definitely an interesting place-with a bit of an odd setup that serves to add to its overall charm. I was seated near the Trojan horse, which I thought was a neat piece of historical embellishment. The lighting give the place an intimate feel, what you would expect of a cozy kind of proper mood-setting date spot.

 To start, we each sampled a glass of Canadian Cave Spring Riesling, which was a pleasant sweeter white wine. I appreciated the fact that it wasn’t overly sweet, with a very mellow finish.

For our meal, we decided upon the Orduevi Appetizer Platter and the Sultan’s Sofrasi Assorted Sampler to share. Chef and owner, Yuksel Gultekin, prides himself on his daily fresh-made dishes that are prepared as a rule, from scratch. Most of the ingredients used, such as the olives and olive oil, are authentic and imported from Turkey. My only issue with the items on the menu was that the layout of the menu was a tad confusing the way it was organized, though I appreciated the fine selection offered.

The Orduevi Platter at $27, consisted of stuffed mushrooms, jumbo shrimp, ground beef flat bread, yaprak and pastirmi sarma. Everything was delightful, but I particularly loved the Yaprak and Pastirmi Sarma. Yaprak reminded me of cabbage rolls, but made with grape leaves wrapped around rice (and sometimes meat), and the pastirmi was a similar kind of roll, wrapped in a crispy meat. They were absolutely phenomenal with delicious flavours, and pleasing texture.

Finally, we received the Sultan’s Sofrasi Assorted Sampler, and I was blown away with the size of the platter. It was meant to be a full meal for two, consisting of yaprak sarma, humus, and a grilled meat collection of chicken, swordfish, meatballs and lamb. Baklava for dessert, is included in the price of $84. If we had only ordered that it would have been certainly enough for two people, but as it was we had plenty of leftovers. I appreciated the entire array of meat included, but especially adored the meatballs and lamb-as they were well-cooked with an exotic taste. The dips that came with the meal were a wonderful accompaniment, and I was highly impressed with everything. 

Lastly, the Baklava was probably the best I’ve ever tasted, it had a perfectly flakey exterior and sticky, sweet layers-topped with pistachios.

We finished off our filling meal with genuine Turkish Coffee, served in a traditional Turkish style tea set. I have tried Turkish coffee before, and find it to be very dense and espresso-like, with a somewhat nutty taste. As you near the bottom of the miniature cup it becomes grittier in texture, and there is a semiformal fortune-telling ritual that essentially consists of flipping the cup over onto the plate where it stays until it is cool and ready to be read.

All in all, I had a fantastic experience, and I felt everything was perfect from start to finish. The service was impeccable, our server was properly attentive without being overbearing, and I was also very pleased that we continuously had our water glasses refilled without any prompting. The food was high-quality, authentic and well-made, with generous portions for the prices. I had a lovely time, and would highly recommend anyone to try out Sofra!