Sofra (restaurant)

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Sofra

Sofra restaurant in Sutton, London (April 2013)
Restaurant information
Established 1981 (1981)
Current owner(s) Hüseyin Özer
Chef Hüseyin Özer
Food type Turkish cuisine
Street address
  • 36 Tavistock Street (Sofra Covent Garden)
  • 18 Shepherd Street (Sofra Mayfair)
  • 1 St Christopher's Place (Sofra St Christopher's Place)
City London
Country United Kingdom
Website www.sofra.co.uk

The Sofra (English: dining table) is a restaurant chain in London, United Kingdom, which serves Turkish cuisine. The chef patron is Hüseyin Özer. It was established in 1981 as a small restaurant, which turned later into a chain of restaurants, currently in Covent Garden, Mayfair and St Christopher's Place, off Oxford Street.[1][2] Sofra restaurants are regarded the best Turkish cuisine restaurants outside Turkey, ranking first in a list published by the newspaper Hürriyet.[3]

The restaurants are simple decorated. Özer declares the reason why there are no paintings on the walls and no music with the words that "his guests are distinguished, who deserve good food, and they go to art galleries or music halls when they wish to enjoy the best of art or music".[2]

Typical Turkish cuisine meze and salads served before main course are fried eggplant, börek (baked filled pastries), falafel (deep-fried ball made from ground chickpeas, broad beans/horse beans), grilled sujuk in addition to broad bean/horse bean, cacık (cucumber with yogurt, dried mint and olive oil), hummus (cooked, mashed chickpeas blended with tahini, garlic in olive oil), baba ghanoush (eggplant mashed and mixed with paprika, garlic in olive oil), tabbouleh (bulgur, tomatoes, cucumbers, finely chopped parsley with onion, garlic in olive oil).[1]

Hüseyin Özer owns also an upscale restaurant, named "Özer" after himself, which is located in London's Oxford Circle. It was announced that this restaurant is to be closed after its 14-years existence on December 20, 2013 because the lease contract was not extended. The building, in which the restaurant is situated, belongs to Queen Elizabeth II.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "SOFRA Londra’da bir restoran zinciri". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2008-10-25. Retrieved 2014-01-15. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Londralı Sofra İstanbul’a geldi". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2000-04-28. Retrieved 2014-01-15. 
  3. ↑ "En çok satan yemek humus". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2008-10-25. Retrieved 2014-01-15. 
  4. ↑ Yağcı, Gonca & Faruk Zabcı (2013-12-02). "Londra'nın en ünlü Türk lokantası kapanıyor". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2014-01-15. 

External links

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