Sofra Bld

Attractive restaurant with sublime food
2 Reviews

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Sofra is sumptuous – there’s no denying that. It’s also extremely popular, both with guests from the Shangri-La and with strays who have just wandered in off the abra. Given that the restaurant provides little more than a buffet service, we were keen to take a closer look, suspecting a wolf in a Versace-lovin’ sheep’s clothing.

We arrived unannounced on a quiet Monday evening, just as the doors swung open, and were surprised to find that we had to be shoehorned into a tiny corner, crammed in under the elbows of a couple on a romantic evening out. Fearing we may cramp their style (there were kids in our party, we asked if we could take a table on the empty patio. No can do, we were told. The patio is reserved for hotel guests only. Needless to say, the patio stayed empty, while our cramped corner of the room spent the evening scowling at the rulebook.

The gourmet buffet is almost an oxymoron. High class cooking is about delicate flavours carefully set against one another; there’s absolutely nothing delicate about a buffet, where gluttons rule and obesity is unavoidable. All-you-can-eat customers take on a competitive mentality, determined to fill their plates as often and as fully as possible, as though they were up against a clock. In this case they are up against a fairly grabbing price list – eat like there’s no tomorrow before the cash beast catches up with you. How the chefs at Sofra must sigh as each of their exquisite fish tagines are mashed into the same plate as a ladle of butter chicken, topped off with shawarma meat and a few fatty croutons. At the centre of the spectacle stands a world of sugary temptation, where swarms of eager children build food mountains out of chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.

It’s a shame, really, as the establishment is attractive and the food really quite sublime. If you’re looking for a place to start, both the sushi and the dhal curry were excellent, though once you’ve started it’ll take a great display of self control to avoid a gut-rupturing accident. Our advice? Skip lunch and hit Sofra for an early dinner – just make sure there’s a stretcher on call to get you back to your car afterwards.

The bill (for two)
Buffet, per person Dhs197
House white wine Dhs33
Total Dhs460

• Previous reviews
  • 22 December,2009- reviewed by Time Out Abu Dhabi staff

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