Restaurant: Home Style - Permai 32, Tanjung Bungah

I had been meaning to try this restaurant for ages and finally got round to it a few days ago. I had heard numerous reports about how good it was and was keen to try.

Home Style is open in the evenings (only) from around 6pm and is located on the corner of the two blocks that make up the Permai 32 Food Court off Lebuh Lembah Permai 1 in Tanjung Bungah. There is quite a lot of free parking around but the slots closest to Permai 32 can get full quickly as there are a growing number of food-court style eateries here also.

First impressions are that the restaurant is very clean and well maintained with seating for around 30-40 people inside (fitted with fans) and probably another 20-30 outside under their canopy. Sitting outside is actually quite pleasant if the weather is good as the restaurant is opposite a playing field in a residential area so there is no traffic noise. Being up on the hillside makes the air a little more cool and fresh I find also. If you go around 6-7pm getting a table shouldn't be too much of a problem, go later and especially at the weekends and it can be a little hit or miss so it might be advisable to try and call to book if you are set on a busy time. During the festive seasons and especially over Chinese New Year is gets very, very busy indeed. Unlike many eateries you can encounter, I have never seen Home Style empty.

Upon entering the restaurant and throughout the service I have to say I didn't find the staff to be particularly welcoming or friendly, with even a smile seeming to be too much trouble, great if you are opening a restaurant just to feed your mates I suppose but if you want to attract customers and keep them coming back a more hospitable welcome from the staff would not go amiss! The staff were not rude as such, just no customer engagement at all, no smile, no chat, nothing.

We ordered several dishes including the tofu with mango (note this is the sour unripe green mango found in Thai somtam, not the sweet yellow ripe version), sweet and sour pork, chicken with plum sauce, french beans with shrimp samba, egg foo young and steamed rice.

Without doubt the favourite dish was the sweet and sour pork, perfectly balanced, nicely cooked, quality meet and a good size portion (in fact all the portions are very generous).

The mango with tofu was also excellent, the crispy and slightly sour mango going perfectly with the fried tofu and accompanying sauce.

The chicken was also very good but I did find the sauce a little sweet and somewhat bland. The egg foo young was nice also.

The french beans with shrimp sambal was marked as spicy but I didn't find it spicy at all, for me this dish was quite dissapointing, somewhat salty and a little bitter, the sambal had an almost burned look about it. I'll likely try it again and check whether we'd just had an unlucky encounter with this dish.


All in all, with a beer, bottle of water and fruit juice (this was an apple juice and was clearly freshly blended, not out of a carton) I think the total bill was around RM 68 which I thought was exceptionally good value. I have seen some comments on the internet that the restaurant is expensive, I suppose that it MIGHT be considered pricey if you are used to eating in RM 5 food courts every day but we are not talking about a food court here either in terms of the restaurant or the food. In terms of the latter the quality and quantity alone is higher.

Overall I was very satisfied with the Home Style restaurant and will certainly return regularly, I would also happily recommend it to others.  I would like to have seen a slightly wider range of dishes on the menu and especially some more spicy dishes, something like kung-po chicken for example.  Other than that the only reason the review isn't more glowing is the somewhat inhospitable attitude from the staff which was reflected in the tip we left!