Review: Homa

28 April 2017

After that excellent tasting menu at Oxalis last night, I had big hopes for my final night in Belgrade. I had a nice lunch and a quieter-than-planned day due to trying to ensure things in Macedonia didn’t go bonkers when I head there tomorrow. In any case, I hopped on a tram and headed off to tonight’s destination, Homa.

Compared to last night’s take — which was humble and simple — Homa is quite different. You can see far more flare here, and a location that is far more upscale. Let’s see if the kitchen can match last night’s excellent cooking.

I sat down and relaxed with a nice martini, as the service was already top-notch. I happily went with the tasting again and they let me chill with my martini for a bit. Then, with a pour of a local sparkling rosé, we started straight into the menu, which surprised me a little.

This was kajmak, a sour-ish cream that is ubiquitous from the Balkans to Central Asia. Nice mixture, from the fritters to the nice addition of truffle. Nice start. Next up was their take on the Caprese.

The star of this dish are the tomatoes, which were nice in several different forms. Nice bit of basil, as well as goat cheese. Nice stuff so far. A new wine was presented, a nice riesling as we moved into larger items.

This is the ombrina, or shi drum, a fish favoured in the Mediterranean area. Tasty, cooked well, with some nice usage of zucchini and parsnips. Enjoying this very much tonight, certainly living up to their reputation. Again, a very different experience than last night, both excellent. Then a pour of a local chardonnay and we have the pasta dish.

A bit of a hit and miss for me here. The squid was of good quality and the flavour really nice, but the pasta was somewhat undercooked for me. One great thing was using this broth for the bread! Tasty! Then a rather nice-looking palate cleanser…

Tasty too, a cherry sorbet with rose foam. Then a pour of the uniquely Serbian prokupac we moved into the meats with pork neck.

Pretty good stuff, lovely flavours with a touch of tea. Good meat, though perhaps not as nice as the veal neck from last night. But solid stuff. We then switch to a cab, another solid pour, and then the tongue.

A lot of this plate, and unfortunately the tongue didn’t taste of good quality and was quite overseasoned. The mustard gelato tempered it a bit, as the marrow jus was strong. Had run out of bread and didn’t want more as it would have been too filling, but probably should have as it would have been spot on.

This was the end of the savoury portion of the tasting menu. Not as good as last night, but pretty good. I’m pretty impressed, as few people think of tasting menus when they think of Serbia. A pour of a nice furmint and we move to the first dessert.

A very nice lemon tart, with elderflower and other additions. A nice transition to the second dessert, which made me smile when it appeared.

Maybe it’s me but I think it’s cute. Tasty too, lovely chocolate. An overall pretty balanced dinner, a few minor hiccups but of good quality. It was probably 3x more expensive than last night, but still reasonable for this type of a menu. I enjoyed it.

I still liked last night’s dinner better, but this was also very good. The service here is spot on, clearly one of the best FoH in the country. I enjoyed a quick drink before wandering into the beautiful evening. Oh, and I said goodbye to the cute tree in the middle of the dining room.

Yeah, this town has really grown on me. This is why I like Belgrade. I’m sad to actually leave, but off to Skopje… I’ll be back tho. Thank you, Serbia!

Homa
Žorža Klemansoa 19
Beograd, Srbija

Review: Oxalis

27 April 2017

As I mentioned in my last compilation review of Belgrade, the food has been quite an eye-opener and I enjoyed the simple stuff quite a lot. But on my second evening in town, I headed to a southern suburb to visit a restaurant I read a few things about called Oxalis, to see what Belgrade can do from the fine-dining, tasting-menu angle. Few people go to Serbia for fine dining, and let’s see if that is about to change.

Took a bit of effort to find it as it was hidden on the back of a building, but once I walked in I knew this evening would be a nice one. Humble and simple, a philosophy that rang through the entire night. I was seated and the friendly and solid service commenced for a fabulous night. As I pondered the menu, some snacks appeared — first off some crisps made of various things like sesame and polenta.

Nice start, then some salmon on crackling.

I happily told chef, who has staged at many top places like Maaemo, that I’ll leave my tasting menu up to him. He said he’ll mix it up a little with stuff from the previous menu, so my interest was piqued. However, it was a little sad to see the place so empty — albeit it being a weeknight.

I relaxed and enjoyed a chardonnay from Vojvodina when the first course arrived, and a playful one…

They called this a “Serbian breakfast” — which had a very tasty 64-degree egg, with cream cheese and pancetta. Excellent with the toasted bread. A cute and tasty start, the gooey goodness of that yolk memorable. More of that same excellent Komuna chardonnay and the second dish arrived, parsnip ravioli.

Excellent, lovely flavours here with some aged cheese. Perfectly cooked, another good one here. Then a little side treat with the bread…

The server’s mum had made some ajvar, and it had such a lovely fresh taste with the bread. Then after enjoying this little treat we moved to the next dish, veal neck.

Mmm, this was lovely, soft and tender with mild but balanced flavours thanks to the onions. Nice quality meat, enjoyed that. Then a nice pour of a prokupac and we had another wonderful meat dish.

This lamb was fabulous, ridiculously tender but without losing any flavour. Excellent stuff once again. Had a wee chat with chef and he explained that they can obviously do more but what they are trying to do is to balance creativity with local sensibility — which is a good way to do it as a neighbourhood restaurant.

Chilled out a little before we moved onto the cheese course, and it was an interesting one.

A really nice local fatty cheese with onions. Really nice, I enjoyed this far more than a heavy, bread-laden cheese course that usually makes me so full I feel strained. Tasty. Then they started with the desserts, as chef is best known for his desserts.

First up was a lime cream and strawberry dish, very nice. Refreshing, really fresh tasting strawberries. Touch of white chcoolate added a wee twist. Nice! A nice pouring of a not-very-sweet muscat from Vojvodina and the second desert is presented.

This “forest gnocchi” has won chef accolades around Europe, including with the San Pellegrino folks. Looks beautiful, and tasted quite nice, with so many elements including chocolate, tea and mandarin. A really nice end to a very nice meal.

I enjoyed a šljivovica and had a nice chat with chef about the challenges of doing this kind of restaurant in Belgrade. I wished them luck, as you can see talent and vision here. And it’s dirt-cheap, with the tasting menu costing about 25 dollars. I really highly recommend this place, even if it’s a little bit of a hike outside the centre of Belgrade. It’s worth the taxi ride most definitely.

If any place Oxalis makes me think of it’s actually the wonderful Stages at One Washington in Dover, New Hampshire. You have a very talented young chef pushing the boundaries but in a very humble and natural way.

If the tourism fates help them, this could be the start of something quite fabulous. Highly recommended!

Oxalis
Neznanog Junaka 47
Beograd, Srbija

Good Eats in Serbia — the Next Hot Food Destination?

26-28 April 2017

I left Montenegro on a relatively comfortable and quick flight to Belgrade on the surprisingly good Air Serbia. It was late afternoon already, so nothing much to do after checking into my hotel but to quickly explore the area and go for some dinner.

I had scoped out some ideas earlier and after arriving I decided to try a place not far from my hotel called Orašac. It’s a place for traditional cuisine, which is a good way to get into my 3-night stay in Serbia’s capital. It was relatively early, so it wasn’t that busy; plus, most people were sitting outside in this nice evening. I stayed inside to avoid the smoke, which to be honest was nowhere as bad as in Montenegro.

I chilled out with some local wine and ordered my dinner. Nice place, pretty good service at the start — thought that got a little messy later on because they became obsessed with cleaning the fan vents. In some ways a good sign, as they cared about the place as well as the effectiveness of the ventilation — which you’d never see in Podgorica…

I had some sausage slices with my wine before my salad arrived — a šopska-ish thing, before my main course arrived…

Oh my, what an offal-y way to start things off! Teleća glava u škembetu, or calf’s head in tripe. A wonderful, peppery dish that boasted of delicious tripe alongside with tender meat. Love the flavour, though perhaps a little oily and rich. But all good especially with bread. An enjoyable start to my Beograd stay!

The next day I had a busy agenda running all over town, but had the chance to drop into another of Beograd’s institutions — Dva Jelena (The Two Deer) in the popular Skadarlija neighbourhood. I was a little ahead of the crowd, and once again people preferred to sit outside, so I lucked out.

I enjoyed some wine and ordered. Again, service was functional and friendly, and I have to say the English by the locals is amazingly good — far better than in places like Budapest and Bucharest. And again, the ubiquitous salad with the addition of a not-hot-enough hot pepper that I ordered before the main arrived.

Veal ribs, not bad at all. Lovely flavour, cooked perfectly. Not dry at all, but tender as anything. A nice though somewhat heavy lunch… I thanked my server as I headed out. A long afternoon and plenty of walking, and I was knackered.

Dinner that evening I will chronicle in my next entry, but it was an eye-opening experience with some excellent cooking. The next day my schedule was disrupted a bit due to the ugly scenes in Skopje — my next destination. I had to keep an eye out on things in case it deteriorated.

But I explored another part of the city and dropped into a place I saw a bit of buzz about, Mala Fabrika Ukusa. A really cute dining room and once again good service. I was again on the early side and folks were happy sitting outside, so I enjoyed some wine and ordered again.

They had a bit more of a tempered menu for lunch, so I went with some rather traditional things. With some salad as usual, they offered to give me half portion of both their house-made sausage and ćevapi so I went with that…

Oh my these are excellent. The sausages were rich and wonderful, the ćevapi splendid. I was so tempted to order another half of each but I had a busy afternoon, so I thanked my server and headed out. Later that night I would have another wonderful tasting menu…

I must say I was very impressed by the food offerings in Belgrade, especially the 2 tasting menus that you will see in the next 2 entries. Good momentum, I can see this becoming a bit of a foodie hangout very soon. Seriously folks, drop in here to Belgrade, you’ll love it. Cheap, good, solid, and simple!

Orašac [Орашац]
Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra 122

Dva Jelena
Skadarska 32

Mala Fabrika Ukusa [Мала Фабрика Укуса]
Nebojšina 49
Beograd, Srbija