Address: 5 Langham Place, London W1B 3DG

Telephone number: 0207 323 0505

Website: www.sofra.co.uk

Date of visit: 19 December 2009

Approximate cost per head: From £10

Comments on wine list/beer: Reasonable list at reasonable prices for central London

Summary:
We were booked in at the Palladium to see “Sister Act” and Ozer is just round the corner. You can also park in Portland Place for up to 4 hours on the meter. Sister Act was absolutely fantastic!

Ozer is the flagship restaurant of the Ozer/Sofra chain of Turkish Restaurants. The restaurant was big and fairly smart. The lights were quite dim which was all right for eating but not for reading – so Sunday lunch with the papers is going to be difficult. I struggled with the menu.

The first thing we noticed when we sat down was a sign: drinks in 2 minutes and your starters in 5 minutes.

We went for the cheapest meze at £14.95 a head - 15 dishes! Well, they were relatively small portions. There are pricier versions which gives you a better selection of grills. There is also a theatre menu at under £7 provided you ordered before 6pm. The dishes came more or less within 5 minutes. We were offered a basket of warm Turkish bread which was excellent. Cold starters included, Tabullah which has both coriander and parsley in it, an aubergine stew, hummus, peeled broad beans in yogurt and more vegetable dishes. The deep fried dishes included falafel, spinach and feta cheese bourek, and something that taste like an onion bajee. Then the kebabs arrived – chicken, lamb and minced lamb (burgers?). The kebabs were highly marinated and extremely tender.

For desert (included in the price), we had a plate with 4 different deserts on it – ice cream, some form of date, chocolate and tiramisu.

We washed the whole lot down with EFES beers (£3.75), a bottle of chianti (£25.25), bottles of water and cokes. The bill for 7 came to £170 including service.

This is definitely a great place for a pre-theatre dinner as the service is highly efficient but then only the Palladium is within 10 minutes walk.

Eddie