Every once in a while when I visit my family in Belmont, my aunt or uncle have brought home food from Sofra Bakery and Cafe, the Mediterranean cafe wing of Ana Sortun’s empire.  As I always enjoyed the mezze from there, I looked forward to trying a full meal in Sofra’s comfortable dining area.  Unfortunately, upon my arrival, there was no space to sit, as almost all of Belmont had the same idea as me.  So, I took my food to go and ate it at my uncle’s house, much to their chagrin, as they supposedly cooked food for me (oops!).

Sofra has quite a few vegetarian sandwiches, and the one that stood out most to me was the spinache falafel with beets, yoghurt and pickled peppers.  The spinach falafel was fresh, hot and very tasty.  Combined with the pickled peppers and beets, this created a nice sour flavor that blended well with the otherwise bland falafel.  This is not quite as good as Falafel King, but if you want a high-endish falafel in Belmont, this is definitely a top choice.

I also ordered a chocolate baklava.  If you are noticing the fuzziness of the picture, this is because I was so eager to chomp into it.  And I was not disappointed, as the chocolate baklava was probably one of the finest baklavas that I have ever had.  Pockets of warm honey were trapped between the morsels of chocolate and nut pieces, which created a gush of flavor every time.  My only complaint would be that I wish there were a regular baklava, as the chocolate seemed slightly overkill for a treat that would have been fine on its own.  But that’s only a complaint just to have some form of criticism.

I ordered a drink that seemed so exotic, even my multicultural upbringing was impressed.  Salep (above) is an orchid root drink with milk, which is somewhat like a warm horchata, but much richer and not as gritty.  It was so smooth going down, and I could feel the gumminess of the root coating my stomach lining.  I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, but it tasted delicious and felt awesome.

Once more, I have not been disappointed by my Sofra experience.  It is definitely one of the nicer cafes in the Belmont/Cambridge border, and if you can come and find a table, you’ll certainly enjoy the experience.  The food is all outstanding, and there are a wealth of vegetarian and vegan options.  My only criticism that prevents it from being a five cheese sandwich is that the casual customer may not be familiar with all the ingrediants/dishes and something may seem like meat, so it would be nice to clearly label vegetarian/vegan dishes.  Otherwise, four and a half cheese sandwiches.

Sofra Bakery and Cafe
1 Belmont Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-4404 
(617) 661-3161