Sharky’s III, a new pizzeria and delicatessen, offers excellent pizzas and a superb range of products to make the mouth water.

THERE is something magical about the way Ye Htut Win, best known as Sharky, continues to dazzle gourmands in Myanmar. His latest feat of magic is Sharky’s III, which was recently opened on Dhammazedi Road, quick on the heels of Sharky’s II, which opened around the corner on Inya Road about a year ago. The latter is regularly packed with customers squeezing past each other to reach for that delicious golden black truffle cheese or the excellent Pavé de Mandalay. Sharky’s I and II are famed for bread, cheese, yogurt, organic eggs, fruit and vegetables, so what does Sharky’s III add to the mix?

Barma ham for example. Bred and processed in Myanmar, the ham is sold side-by-side with Parma ham and other cold cuts; skilfully butchered fresh meat and birds; excellent wine; great espressos, teas and what must rank among the best thin crust pizzas in Southeast Asia.

“As it’s a 100 percent Myanmar product, I call it Barma ham, not Parma,” he said. “Even the salt we use is Ngapali sea salt, we sell it here too in flakes or granules. Fashionable gourmets are going to adore Ngapali sea salt; it should be on the shelves of European gourmet stores.”

He says the slogan of Sharky’s III is ‘Food and Passion’.

“Without passion the end result would be far below the level of what I or my team members want to see,” he said, “and I am extremely passionate about food.”

This shows in the approach he takes. For Sharky, the process of preparing meat begins with the animal’s diet, how it is raised, slaughtered and dressed to bring out the very best flavours, which are lost in traditional Asian slaughtering methods.

He believes that animals should be treated as humanely as possible while they’re alive; the life of battery hens, for example, is horrendous. Sharky is a fierce advocate of humane meat production together with sustainable and responsible eating habits. He believes that if we are not vegetarians we should at least have some compassion for the animals we eat. Sharky has his own chicken farm but still buys the pigs from farmers in the delta town of Kyone Pyaw whom he trusts to raise the pigs according to his directions. By the end of the year he will be raising his own corn-fed pigs.

His chickens are free-range, corn-fed, and given only water two days before slaughtering, to clean out their intestines. Their necks are cut swiftly, then thoroughly drained and dry plucked to avoid water contamination.

“In my other shops my concept was slow food,” Sharky explained, “and here, I am introducing the meat processing methods as taught by the great master butchers of Europe. The animal must be completely drained of blood because it makes a big difference to the taste.” His hams undergo a seven step process beginning with bleeding the carcass, massaging the meat, salting, washing, drying, greasing with lard and then air drying. The process takes 12 months. By step six, which involves coating the cut areas with a mixture of lard, rice flour and herbs, the ham has lost 40 percent of its weight. The finished, cured hams are finally displayed in the glass-walled booth alongside his greatest pride and joy, a gleaming work of art: the antique manual slicer of red enamel and chrome especially imported from Italy.

“Actually, the best way to cut ham is the old-fashioned way — by hand,” Sharky explains, “but it takes many years of practice to cut it thinly enough, 1 mm. Electric slicers cannot get it as thin or as uniform, and the heat of the machine also affects the meat. The manual slicer is the closest to slicing by hand but they are no longer made, and I really had to search for it. It cost a hefty sum, too. Here, try this…”

As he speaks he gently turns the handle and a tissue-thin translucent slice, soft and beautiful like silk, rolls off the blade. The taste is incredible: buttery and fragrant, with a deep savoury flavour.

Two refrigerated counters display cuts of meat and a variety of imported antipasti, including grilled artichokes.

“I’ve been experimenting with artichokes and I have an Italian farmer teaching my guys about it. We hope to get them out by the end of this year.”

At the other end of the display counter is a glass-walled room filled with steel refrigerators, a sausage machine and chopping blocks, where the meat is cut and sausages, salamis and other processed meats are prepared.

“See, everything is transparent: customers can see everything that my guys are doing, how clean they keep everything. This is the concept here, transparency.”
Everything is on show, including the pizzeria where several young women top pizzas ready for baking in the oven behind them.

“In Europe, the pizzeria is a male domain,” Sharky says. “You know, the macho-testosterone thing, but I wanted to make it more family-friendly so these young women were brought in from Kyone Pyaw.” The women, who work skilfully and confidently, are from the same town as the pig farmers; Sharky likes to create a sense of family within his work place.

Pizza prices start at K6000 for a simple mozzarella, tomato and basil pizza to K11,000 for one with smoked duck breast, mozzarella, tomato, and rocket. At K8500, the Pizza Porchetta — with its tender slices of roasted pork loin belly, mozzarella, tomato, and rocket — is sublime. Other great meat toppings are smoked salmon, roast beef, salami, smoked back bacon, smoked chicken, smoked duck breast, and cooked ham; some are dribbled with white truffle oil.

The exterior and interior decoration of Sharky’s III is both welcoming and elegant. A knee-high walled circular area contains a gnarled old tree and growing paddy, of the Paw San Hmwe variety, which will be harvested at a special party by scythe-wielding guests. Proceeds from the sale of souvenir rice bags will go to charity.

One of five life-sized papier mâche cows, smooth as porcelain and painted with colourful flowers, rotate on a monthly basis for the chance to stand at the entrance under the gaze of several whimsically decorated cow heads hanging from the wall. The heads are for sale, and proceeds are donated to the two state schools of fine arts in Yangon and Mandalay.

An upstairs area is pleasantly fitted with furniture from the 1950s, made or renovated with reclaimed wood by Jamie Humphries of Chindits Co. The overall design is by Wendy Khin of Tharzi Ltd., who was also responsible for the renovations and supremely elegant Art Deco toilet. The upstairs area also acts as a showroom, and has a regularly updated selection of paintings from River Gallery.