COCONUTS HOT SPOT — Homst Restaurant has made its name as one of the more popular chain of restaurants started by Yusoff Lau Abdullah serving Chinese Muslim food.
Homst has made its mark all across the Klang Valley from TTDI to Bangi, Shah Alam, Kajang and Kota Damansara. Their Shah Alam restaurant is located just behind Tesco Extra and it’s a clear favourite among the neighbourhood residents.
We were there early but once we have placed our order, the crowd came and filled up the restaurant quickly. Before long, there were people queuing and waiting for tables.
We started our dinner with their Salted Eggyolk Softshell Crabs which were glistening wickedly in a crunchy batter dotted with orangey salted egg yolks, curry leaves and chopped chilli padi.
Salted Eggyolk Softshell Crabs
I felt this was a fair rendition of a salted egg yolk dish and the soft shell crabs were fresh and sweet. The flavours were spot-on and another plus point was that the crabs were not soaking in oil.
Next dish was the Lala with Ginger, a typical Chinese way of cooking clams. Chopped garlic and spring onions gave the dish an extra aromatic boost. The lala were fresh with a nice briny bite and I liked the light sauce that clung to them.
Lala with Ginger
As we had ordered plain white rice, I thought their Sambal Sotong Petai would be a good choice. When the dish was served, I was surprised at its appearance as it looked more like “sweet sour sotong”.
Sambal Sotong Petai
Sambal Sotong PetaiThe squids and petai were cooked in a watery gravy that was sweetish and tangy and with hardly any hint of “sambal”. This rendition didn’t quite match up to my expectation of a sambal dish.
Being a fan of salted egg yolks, I couldn’t resist ordering the Stir-fry Bittergourd with Salted Egg Yolk for our vegetable dish. The presentation was interesting – a plate of sliced bittergourd sautéed with eggs with a big orange disc in the centre.
The salted egg yolk was pressed and shaped into a disc before being coated in a thin batter and deep fried. We broke up the salted egg yolk disc and mixed it up with the bittergourd and I must say the taste was really good.
By this time the restaurant was very busy and we had to wait quite a bit for our Steamed Assam Tilapia. It finally came with a bright orangey red sauce splashed all over the fish and plate.
Steamed Assam Tilapia
Steamed Assam TilapiaThe only accompaniment were a few pieces of very thinly cut ladies fingers, slivers of bombay onions and several pieces of tomatoes. The assam sauce was a bit on the bland side and lacked certain aromatic herbs that would have boosted it.
There are a few desserts as well as dim sum on the menu. The latter is available during all meal times, even for dinner. I was told the fried stuff are pretty good, particularly the Deep-fried Yam Puffs and Chinese Pancake.
Homst Restaurant
5-7 Jalan Boling Padang H13/H
Seksyen 13
40100 Shah Alam
Tel: 03-5513-0760
