Sofra Turkish Cafe & Restaurant — Restaurant in Singapore

What started out as a promising dinner at place with nearly 5 stars turn out to be thoroughly disappointing The mango and berrie lassi was salty to begin with. Ok, maybe it is the real turkish deal we thought, but it's only at the end of the drink and end of the meal where the disappointment climaxed as we found a entire layer of honey at the bottom. Someone had apparently forgotten to stir the drink. Unforgivable even at your kopitiam downstairs, much less an expensive restaurant.

Oh, the pottery lamb. Don't get me started on it. 'The curry will go well with bread.' the waiter promised us. 'Customers come back the next day again for it.' Surely at 77 bucks to have people returning the next day, it must be amazing , I reasoned. No curry lamb had ever disappoint me. Except this one. Correction, still stands that no curry lamb has ever disappoint me becuase what came out of the pot is not curry but what is best adaptly described as boiled lamb pieces in salty water ( it's a sad semblance of some soup the chef has no idea what he is doing). My father in law dryily comment that someone should let the chef have some kambing soup. Yea, your 6 dollar Kambing soup in a chao sng state will probably beat this. The bread. Yes see that deflated looking bread there? It came flat and we thought that is normal till we saw others coming freshly baked and bloated with hot hair. I wondered how long ours was left around. Maybe other disappointed guests cancelled their food and we are served leftover.

The saving grace is perhaps the meat skewers. But again, how difficult is it to prepare those? Your Chinese restaurants are serving those at 1.2 a stick. My 2 stars goes to the salmon and meat platter skews

Beef pasta. Yea that whitish looking dish with some sprinkling of red. I'm not sure what I'm eating. The red comes from some oil that bears an uncanny resemblance to lao gan ma chili. Threw it into a thick goo of cream and u pretty have the taste of that dish. It is not very edible.

Guys. Save your precious calories and money for a meal elsewhere.

How the hell did this restaurant have...

Coincidence is a thing, and this morning we happened to watch Nigel Slater’s Middle East on BBC Lifestyle, in which he visited a humble Turkish peasant lady who made him a bowl of Manti. That’s not a typo of ‘mantou’, these are basically tiny Turkish raviolis. I inwardly lamented that on my previous visit to Turkey I had not tried anything like it (I think we ate a lot of Turkish tourist food).

Happily our staycation hotel was right next to Marina Square, and SOFRA seemed perfect for dinner. We walked in with no reservations and the staff were totally nice and friendly.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Manti on the menu, and looking exactly like how the peasant lady had made it. We ordered this together with a lamb Shish kebab. The Manti was delicious: each forkful held an al dente pasta shape filled with minced beef, laced with yogurt and spiced oil. The beef could’ve been seasoned a little better (like the lamb shish, which came with generous helpings of vegetables), but nevertheless I loved that we could have such an exotic dish here in Singapore.

We also tried the rice pudding and chocolate pudding, out of which I prefer the rice pudding, if it had a little more caramelisation (the ones in Turkey looked burnt) it would be chefs kiss.

The waiters were so kind and anticipatory of our needs, I’m not sure about the other negative reviews here but our experience was a definite 10/10!

Would definitely return, especially to try the popular lavash bread which emerged periodically from the kitchen magically...

TL;DR A wonderful choice for group gatherings with friends of mixed dietary or religious backgrounds. Delicious food, beautiful décor, warm service, and convenient location. A few lighter snack or dessert options would make the experience even better.

Full review

Ambience: Sofra is tastefully decorated with Turkish accents that strike a fine balance between thematic and tasteful. The space is clean, welcoming, and suitable for both casual meet-ups and slightly more formal gatherings. Its central location in Marina Square makes it highly accessible, which adds to its appeal for group meet-ups.

Food: The food is excellent—flavourful, well-portioned, and hearty. From grilled meats to rice dishes and dips, there’s something satisfying for everyone. It’s also a great place for halal dining, which makes it easy to include friends from various backgrounds.

If there’s room for improvement, I would love to see a few more options for non-carb-heavy snacks or starters, and desserts that are a little less sugar-forward to balance out the otherwise robust menu.

Service: Service was attentive without being intrusive. Staff were friendly and knowledgeable, and the flow of food was well-paced despite the restaurant being fairly busy.

Would I return? Absolutely—for the food, ambience, and inclusivity. It’s a reliable go-to for meaningful catch-ups or casual...