14 January,2013 09:08 AM IST | | Tanveer Bookwala
Sufra means tablecloth. When we find our seat in an ultra-cramped makeshift room, we notice that the tablecloth is dirty. That should have been our first clue.
But we were stupider than that. First things first: Sufra is not equipped to deal with sit-down patrons. The waiter forgot that we were sitting there. Then, he goofed up our order. And also, didn't bother with cleaning the remaining tables around us. There was also a bee buzzing around, causing the patrons on the other table to scamper.
The Lamb Kebab Wrap was ordinary. Pics/ Pradeep Dhivar
Sufra is a new Middle-Eastern takeaway launched by restaurateur Moshe Shek that offers shawarmas and Middle-Eastern wraps and rolls. Bandra's Carter Road has three excellent shawarma places. And Carter Blue is arguably, one of the best shawarma places in the city, which is a stone's throw away from Sufra, so it's quite a challenge that Sufra embarks upon.
To begin with, the Chicken Shawarma ('133) was served rather dry, without any sauce, or garlic paste; it was extremely unappetising, overall. You might as well skip the stale fries too, that were neither crisp nor salted.
The Roast Chicken and Moujadara ('222) consists of two pieces of chicken leg in a tomato-based gravy that feels like weakened spicy sauce tossed together with a portion of something that could've been sold off as lentil pulao. It didn't score high with the seasoning, and lacked flavours too.
In a desperate effort, we tried the Lamb Kebab Wrap ('160) that was filled with large parched rings of lamb and cracked wheat. One bite, and we were wishing we'd have done another round of Maroosh. It wasn't terrible, just ordinary: bland and basic. Perhaps, a dash of hot sauce and a pickled chilly might have done the trick? The lamb was soft and tender, but that sadly, was it.
