Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Sofra Turkish Cuisine in Toowoomba

Sofra Turkish Cuisine
164 Margaret St, Toowoomba



I've mentioned already that it's getting harder and harder for me to find new restaurants to try in Toowoomba. I'm slowly exhausting everything this town has on offer. This is why the opening of a brand spanking new restaurant will pull me in like a moth to flame.


Byron first mentioned Sofra to me while the space was still being fitted. By the time Mochi and I were planning a catch-up dinner, it was open to the public and ready to roll.



We went in to find that the restaurant was quite busy... to the point where they looked anguished to hear that we didn't have a reservation. Luckily, there was a table for us.

Turkish apple tea

Drinks were ordered first. Mochi stirred up trouble by trying to find out the difference between Turkish tea and Turkish apple tea. Apparently the former is just normal tea with sugar on the side and the later is apple-flavored.


I was harping on about how 'nice' the Turkish apple tea was when she says 'can't you just add apple juice to normal tea?'

Hmm...

Mochi and I are a real team at ordering food. With some meal buddies, it can be a struggle, or you just order individual serves. For us, it's almost like a psycho-telepathic agreement. Very efficient.

We chose a pide, a dish from their 'recommended' list and a salad.

Sausage and haloumi pide

The pide arrived first. It was a sausage and haloumi pide. Interesting combination? I'd never had anything like it before. The pide can noway be considered healthy but it was nice and squishy. The sausage was chorizo-like (doesn't seem Turkish to me) and the haloumi, salty and chewy. All together, it made for a fast food style greasy, carby slab. Nothing subtle about it but it tasted good.

Lamb casserole with rice

Our 'recommended' dish was a lamb casserole (forgot to write down what it was called; will amend this post when I find out). It looked real simple but this dish did what the pide failed at... it was intricate, flavorsome and just tasted more authentic. We had pondered over whether or not it should be eaten with rice and it actually came with rice so that settled it. The more I ate this dish, the more it grew on me.

Tabouleh salad

Our salad was a tabouleh-style deal, nicely presented in little rounds. I don't love tabouleh so this just tasted like lentil-flavored parsley to me. It was meh on its own but did compliment the lamb dish.

Sofra is a nice addition to the deprived Toowoomba dining scene. I've been praying for a Greek/Turkish/something-other-than-Thai-or-Indian restaurant for many months and my prayers have been answered. It's not better than any Turkish restaurant I've tried in Brisbane but it exceeded my expectations and I'll definitely be going back.

7 comments:

  1. Thank you for this. Going there tonight. That lamb casserole looks great, so will give that a stab. -Sheri

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  2. Hi Sheri...

    It was yum!! Give it a try :). Hope you enjoy your dinner.

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  3. Very yummy, went last night with a group of girlfiends, had a great meal and staff are happy to assist where ever possible.....:)Will be returning! PS the price averaged for all was $30 each!!

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  4. I had the Iskendar lamb. While I was eating, a couple of older ladies leaned over and asked what it was. I showed them on the menue and they they said we could hear you moaning your enjoyment so we want to try it! (just call me Sally!!) fabulous restaurant - sooo grateful for something besides indian and thai in town!

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  5. Hi Sally...

    Sounds like you had a great time! I'm thinking of heading back soon. Totally agree with you re: something besides Indian and Thai. Seems like that's all there is in town!

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  6. Am going there on Saturday nite....can't wait, I love Turkish food.

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  7. I have been to Sofra about three times so far and will keep returning because I love their food so much. I have tried almost every restaurant in Toowoomba and think this is the best or one of the best of bests. Unfortunately I can not remember the name of the dishes I had but next time I will write them down and share with you all. Apple tea sounds really tempting so I will try it next time.

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