Ye Htut Win’s Sharky’s is a mainstay of Yangon fine cuisine and a lifeline for cheese-loving expats. His dedication to local ingredients and sustainability will be featured in a special farm-to-table served lunch and dinner throughout May at the The Savoy Hotel. Over the last 20 years, Ye Htut Win—often known as Sharky—has refined growing techniques and recipes to produce some of Myanmar’s freshest, healthiest most flavourful meats, cheeses, eggs, vegetables, herbs and spices.
At The Savoy, next door to Sharky’s Dhammazedi restaurant and shop, chef Florian Eberhardt is serving up a farm-to-table menu using the best of Sharky’s Myanmar ingredients cleverly crafted into fine dining dishes. On the evening we visited, the first dish celebrated what Sharky’s does best: A salad-meets-antipasto with creamy, melty buffalo mozzarella, a rich, smokey, funky culatello, crisp and succulent tomatoes, peppery rocket and a tangy sweet pepper pesto. It was served with a Freixenet DO Cava, delightfully fizzy and refreshing. For the second cause Eberhardt showcased Sharky’s astounding free-range eggs from from Shan State, which was served with a tangy, full, lightly-spiced pumpkin hummus, microgreens, and umami-rich ikura (perhaps the only thing on the menu not from Myanmar).
For the main course, Sharky’s 120-day dry-aged striploin had a fantastically deep meaty flavor. Ye Htut Win told us he uses six-year-old heffers for his steaks and that, like wine, the complexity comes with age. The steak was served with a camargue rice, which Sharky grows here in Yangon. It was beautifully seasoned with tart and tangy notes. The Belgian endives were succulent, fragrant, and sweet and the truffle jus married the elements well together.
Eberhardt’s dessert had some fantastic flavours, including a delicious mango crème and a bitter yet sweet raspberry ganache—a perfect combination of dessert-staples fruit and chocolate. Unfortunately, for this diner at least, rather than complimenting the other subtle flavors, the crunchy peanut ice cream rather overpowered the dish.
Yangon gourmands should expedite themselves to The Savoy for a chance to experience a meal grown, cooked, and served with love. The menu will change weekly throughout the month depending on what Sharky’s deems most delectable with a la carte starting at US$12 and the set menu between $53 and $62, with an extra $30 for wine pairing. It’s a rare opportunity to sample Sharky’s exceptional ingredients in a fine dining setting. In the heart of Yangon, Sharky’s and The Savoy have crafted a rural escape, by way of the taste buds, to the farms and fields of this fertile country.
Opening: May 5 to May 31. 11.30am to 3pm for lunch. 6pm until 10.30pm for dinner.
Location: The Savoy Hotel, 129, Dhammazedi Road, Yangon
Phone: 01 526 289
