Mr Tin Tun Aung barbecues at Yakiniku II

NEANDERTHALS must have been pretty happy when they learned the secret of wood-fired barbecue, but just imagine their joy when they discovered the twin arts of marinating and dipping.

These days, barbecue restaurants take their marinades and dips very seriously – so seriously, in fact, that when you ask restaurant owners the secret to their special sauce, you won’t get much more than a half smile and polite rebuttal.

So why the secrecy? Ms Kyein Shwin, owner of Chinese barbecue restaurant Yunan, concedes that “all barbecue is similar but marinades make the difference”. She suggests that often the only way to tell many barbecue restaurants apart is the taste of their sauces.

That isn’t to say that the meat isn’t important. Mr Tin Tun Aung, who owns Japanese barbecue restaurant Yakiniku II, is particularly keen to emphasise the importance of preparation. Cutting the meat properly is crucial, he says, because if done incorrectly the meat can lose its elasticity. Once the meat is cut you must then force the flavours in with an intense hand massage.

Mr Tin Tun Aung has so much confidence in the quality of his sauces that he has stuck to the same recipes since he opened Yakiniku in 2001. Of course, he declines to say exactly how he makes his dips, other than to confide that they are “a blend of soy sauces, miso and wasabi”.

You might think that all the secrecy about marinades and sauces is a little over the top, but when customers discover a taste they really enjoy they are likely to go back to the restaurant that created it again and again, Ms Kyein Shwin argues.

The owners of Korean family restaurant Arirang take a similar, fastidious approach to their bean paste, which takes almost three years to prepare.

So concerned are they with the taste of their paste that 80 percent of the beans used are imported from South Korea. This might seem odd, given Myanmar is one of the world’s largest exporters of beans and pulses. Victor Lee, the son of head chef Ms Mi Sun Moon, says that it is absolutely necessary that the beans are grown organically, without using any chemicals.

“Even if you wash the beans, the taste of pesticides and herbicides is in Mr Lee says.

Restaurants: Yakiniku II, 31 Aung Zaya St., Kyauk Kone, Yankin Tsp. — Yunan, 48A Kabar Aye Pagoda Rd., Mayangone Tsp. — Arirang, 19 Pyay Rd., Mayangone Tsp.

To celebrate their 8th anniversary, Yakiniku II will be offering a 10 per cent discount on Tiger Beer. If you buy eight glasses or two jugs of Tiger Beer you get one glass free.

At Yunan if you buy ten glasses of Tiger Beer you get one glass free. All offers are valid from February 16 to March 1.