Otto e Mezzo Bombana is an Italian restaurant at Shop 202,

Alexandra House Alexandra House () is an office building in Central, Hong Kong near Central station. The building has 37 levels. It hosts a shopping arcade, Landmark Alexandra, and it is connected to the Central Elevated Walkway. The block formed by Alexand ...

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. It is the only Italian restaurant outside of Italy to have received 3 stars from the

Michelin Guide The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...

, having been awarded 3 stars by the 2012 Michelin Guide Hong Kong and Macau. Its head chef is

Umberto Bombana Umberto Bombana (born 1963) is an Italian chef and co-owner of three Michelin star restaurant 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana. He is hailed as the "''King of White Truffles''" and was appointed a "''Worldwide Ambassador of the White Truffle''" by the ...

History

Umberto Bombana trained under

Ezio Santin Ezio is an Italian masculine name, originating from the Latin name ''Aetius''. It may refer to: * Flavius Aetius (c. 396–454), Roman general, after whom Metastasio's libretto and all the operas below are named. ** Ezio (libretto), opera libretto ...

. He worked at Toscana at the Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong from 1993. He was a prime mover in introducing the

white truffle ''Tuber magnatum'', the white truffle (Italian: ), is a species of truffle in the order Pezizales and family Tuberaceae. It is found in southern Europe. Distribution It is found mainly in the Langhe and Montferrat areas of the Piedmont region ...

to Hong Kong's restaurant scene, and he introduced the World White Truffle of

Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scottish people, Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed i ...

Auction to Hong Kong. In 2006, Bombana was appointed by

Piedmontese Regional Enoteca Cavour Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regard ...

as their International White Truffle Ambassador. The Ritz-Carlton hotel was demolished in 2008 to make way for the building of

China Construction Bank China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) is one of the " big four" banks in China. In 2015, CCB was the 2nd largest bank in the world by market capitalization and 6th largest company in the world. The bank has approximately 13,629 domestic branc ...

. Umberto Bombana then opened Otto e Mezzo Bombana in January 2010. The restaurant's name is a tribute to Bombana's favorite Italian film director

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...

's 1963 autobiographical movie . On 13 November 2011, Otto e Mezzo Bombana hosted the Hong Kong bidders for the annual World White Truffle of

Auction, linking by satellite to the Italian auction grounds. On 9 January 2014, Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd announced that the Otto e Mezzo Bombana restaurant will be a feature at

Galaxy Macau Galaxy Macau (, Portuguese: Galáxia Macau) is a casino resort located in Cotai, Macau, SAR of People's Republic of China. Construction on the Cotai project began in 2002. Its opening was rescheduled several times. Its developer, Galaxy Ente ...

's under construction Ritz-Carlton hotel, which will open in mid-2015.

Awards

In November 2010, the restaurant was awarded 2 Michelin stars by the 2011

Hong Kong and Macau. In November 2011, it was voted 13th best restaurant in Asia by the

Miele Guide The Miele Guide is a regional guide book to restaurants in Asia. The 2008/2009 edition which was published at the end of October 2008, launched the first in an annual series, which ranked and showcased the top 20 restaurants in Asia, as well as cate ...

. In 2012, awarded 3 stars by the Michelin Guide. On 29 April 2013, Otto e Mezzo was named 39th in the top 100 restaurants of the world in ''The World's Best Restaurants Awards''. In April 2017 it was named No. 4 Best Restaurant in Asia in San Pellegrino's 'Asia's 50 Best Restaurants'.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:8 half Otto e Mezzo Italian restaurants in Hong Kong Michelin Guide starred restaurants in Hong Kong