It says a lot about Sharra Pub that its owners built their own pizza oven.
In a city where pizza ovens are easy to come by (yes, I’ve actually looked), Sharra opted to go the hard way, opting for a domed brick oven.
The effort has paid off, magnificently. Sharra – which means Saw – has managed to dethrone Napoli with a mix of classical execution in their pies and creativity, with a whopping 43 topping options ranging from classic djath to Piri-Piri sauce.
I suspect that you could try just about any combination – even something like pineapple-sardine – and it would be great. The secret lies in the crust. It comes out crisp and stays crisp, with slight charring on the bottom. The inside, meanwhile, is tender and toothsome.
The pizza options are found on a small rectangle of paper where you check off the size (small and large) and toppings. It seems designed to minimize confusion especially when a large number of toppings are involved in an order. And it more or less works, though on one occasion a small arugula-tomato pizza was delivered instead of a large one. To the waiter’s credit, after insisting that we had ordered a small pizza, he went back and discovered his mistake – and offered to remedy it.
The pizza offers a good value. Small pies, which feed one person generously, start under 3 euros. While the large pies, which more than enough for two people, start under 5. Toppings are 50 cents extra.
Sharra has also introduced an important concept to Prishtina: that pizza goes best with beer. The pub has three of Kosovo’s four operational breweries represented, Sabaja Prishtina, and Peja, as well a respectable selection of imports. Perhaps it’s just my imagination, but there’s something about Sharra’s pizza that seems especially suited for beer. Perhaps it’s a touch of sweetness in the crust that plays nicely against the hoppiness of beer.
Sharra has a conventional menu for its non-pizza offerings that’s a sort of Italian inspired pub food, with an array of pastas, salads and interested starters including nachos in a tave, the earthenware casserole dish that’s a staple in traditional Albanian cooking. During one lunch I got what sounded like a very promising special: chicken covered in Albanian spices, over potatoes, with an egg on top. Unfortunately it was a bit bland and dried out. I also was disappointed with the minestrone soup. While the tomato broth was robust and delicious, the vegetables had been hardly cooked.
As far as atmosphere is concerned, Sharra, located does an excellent job of being approachable through the heavy use of wood and exposed brick. The kind of place where it makes sense to have a pizza and a beer, and seems to be catering to the under-30 crowd. My only quibble is the music, which tends to be quite loud – and too loud when it’s techno on a Sunday night.
But I’m willing to forgive a lot when the pizza is so damn good.
10 October 2014 - 10:30
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