As I previously mentioned in a post about Belgrade’s hidden gems, when it comes to Serbian food I wasn’t holding out much hope as a non-meat eater. I had visions of meaty stews and well, pretty much meaty everything. Fortunately I was proven wrong on a couple of occasions. Firstly with a visit to Belgrade’s vegetarian restaurant Radost (yes one does actually exist)and secondly with dinner at Belgrade’s best restaurant, Homa.
Inside Belgrade’s best restaurant Homa
I’d been tipped off by a friend who had recently been to Belgrade that if I was after inventive, contemporary cooking in Serbia’s capital then Homa was the place to go. The only snag was finding Belgrade’s best restaurant. She mentioned it was located in the Dorcol area. It turned out that we were staying literally a 5-minute walk away. But as all the street signs are written in cyrillic it can be tricky finding where you’re looking for. Luckily our Airbnb host gave us a guided walk around the area and was able to find the side street street we were after. It took him a while to figure it out as he’d never heard of this Belgrade hidden gem. And even then we weren’t convinced it was the right street as there wasn’t much on it, until we got to the end and saw a modern, white building, which turned out to be Homa.
Elegantly presented food at Belgrade’s best restaurant
Walking down the street we never would have guessed that Belgrade’s best restaurant was waiting for us at the end of it. Inside the decor was trendy, lots of white with high ceilings and hanging spherical lights and a bar at the back. The space felt intimate and I also really liked the garden area and tables out at the front. The only thing I found weird, but this would be the case in all Serbian restaurants is that you can smoke. One of the women on the table next to us chain-smoked as she ate (I’d forgotten there was even a time when you could smoke in restaurants) but it was more strange to see than anything else.
Homa Belgrade’s signature dish, a chocogolics dream, the claypot
As I don’t eat meat Sharps very kindly offered to go for one of the fish dishes on the menu. I chose sea bass with ricotta cheese, accompanied by a kind of potato blini with horseradish and he went for a very rare-crusted tuna with sesame seeds, drizzled in a sweet salad dressing and coconut milk – both were specials of the day. Both dishes were well executed, I have to admit I wasn’t expecting such high standards when it came to eating out in Serbia. While I’m not usually a dessert person the standout dish by far was Sharps’ clay pot pudding, Homa’s signature dish recommended to us by our waitress. It took all the self control I could muster not to dive into it (I didn’t in case the mousse had gelatine in it). A layer of dark chocolate covered with chocolatey, crunchy biscuit pieces (think Oreos), topped a layer of white chocolate mousse and mint ice cream. Sharps was in his element, so much so he contemplated ordering another one.
Soft, seabass with potato blinis and horseradish
Homa may be Belgrade’s best restaurant but don’t be put off by the fact that it’s fancy. The atmosphere is relaxed and the staff were incredibly friendly and knowledgeable. They helpfully supplied us with an English menu and even let us pay in Euros as we hadn’t yet been able to change any money into Serbian dinar (you can only buy the currency within the country). Plus, while Homa may be one of Serbia’s more expensive restaurants, compared to eating out in London or Amsterdam it’s great value for money and relatively cheap so it won’t break the bank. What more of an excuse to have dinner at Belgrade’s best restaurant then?
