Café Sopra, Sydney CBD

“You’ve NEVER tried Fratelli before?”

My friend was incredulous and with five Fratelli Fresh cafés and restaurants dotted around Sydney, it is somewhat surprising that I hadn’t yet visited one of them, especially as most of my friends are big fans. To be honest, the main reason I’ve not been is because I hate lining up for restaurants. With that in mind, my more experienced friend instructed me to arrive at Café Sopra on Bridge St before 6pm to be certain of snagging a table without a wait. I dutifully turned up at 5:58pm to a half full restaurant, and as predicted, was immediately ushered to a table.

As my friend was running late, I had plenty of time to peruse the extensive menu. I have written in previous posts of my love of garlic prawns, so I was immediately drawn to the prawn spaghetti with garlic, chilli and pangrattato.

Spaghetti with Prawns, chilli, garlic and pangrattato

The generous heap of spaghetti scattered with juicy prawns and crunchy croutons and breadcrumbs smelled amazing and tasted delicious, although I would have preferred more chilli. The prawns were perfectly cooked and I loved the texture that the pangrattato added to the dish.

My second choice was the duck ragu tagliatelle, which my friend ended up ordering. While she was happy with her dish, she admitted she wished that she had ordered her first choice – the prawn spaghetti!

Tagliatelle with Duck, Sage and Pancetta Ragu

I have heard so many people rave about the banoffee tart, so of course, we had to order it. I was impressed by how gorgeous and perfect it looked and the taste definitely lived up to the hype. The light, fluffy banana-flavoured whipped cream cut through the thick caramel filling that was smooth and fortunately, not overly sweet. The biscuit base was quite difficult to cut through (however, it did complement the other elements very well) and I would have liked more banana slices, but apart from that, it was a pretty amazing dessert.

Torta Banoffee

TL;DR:

• I completely understand the popularity of the Fratelli Fresh eateries; well priced, delicious Italian food – what more could you want?
• The Banoffee tart is fabulous; I’d go back just for that!
• If you’re like me and don’t like lining up, make sure you go early; by 6:30pm on a Wednesday night, the place was already packed.

Café Sopra
11 Bridge Street
Sydney NSW 2000
T: (02) 8298 2701
W: Fratelli Fresh