12-5-2013(日）

由小至大，媽媽灌輸家人其理論（怪理論?），甚麼節日也無須慶祝。是日為母親節，媽媽更一早已著我要自行找節目！哈哈。。。這個媽媽真怪！

老朋友 Charles 清楚我的「家規」，所以在返回香港公幹前，已很早越洋在 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA 訂位和我於今晚吃飯了。是日，我補習過後，坐港鐡來到中環歷山大廈；已有兩年沒到訪這間米芝蓮三星級食府，噢！吃罷，其水準仍然是頂呱呱呢！是次最想說說那個龍蝦意大利飯。這個意大利飯味道濃郁，很creamy，加入優質上等的芝士（真的想知它運用了那一隻牌子的芝士），並有忌廉及龍蝦湯，絕頂好吃。那個龍蝦拆肉上碟，上桌時可見肉質嫩白，吃下一口，啖啖肉的，肉質鮮嫩且有點彈牙，加上龍蝦湯底，好吃到暈！意大利飯吃幾口已很飽肚，還是小吃多滋味吧！

埋單共約 $3800，燭光之下的老朋友聚會，時間過得特別快呢！

Originally I was not expecting this dinner to occur as the only time they had available was for quite a late seating, but the night before our appointed date, 8 1/2 contacted Mr. C to inform him that they were able to organise a table for an earlier time, so lucky us~

This was my second time dining at this 3-star establishment and since I was not wowed by my previous experience, I was hoping I would be more impressed this time around.

As we were seated, we were greeted with a glass of bubbly, which was a very kind gesture *thank you* and after looking through the menu we decided to go a la carte ordering dishes to share rather than have their full degustation menu.

By the time we had finished ordering, I was already really hungry since someone was a little indecisive in choosing whether to take a detour before dinner *ahem* so when the bread basket arrived, my eyes lit up and I must admit I did over indulge on the bread Their bread basket was quite rustic with the combination of wood-fired sour dough, olive bread, grissini and sun-dried tomato and cheese foccacia. I loved their olive bread which tore off with a crunchy shatter and the fluffy insides was ideal for soaking up the thick fragrant olive oil~Amuse bouche was a tiny cube of ocean trout with a puree of granny smith apple and ctiron foam. Quite ordinary. Our first appetiser was the roast octopus and roast artichoke. This was amazingly good~ Simply presented, the octopus was cut to the perfect thickness and very tender while the artichoke was softly crunchy with a pleasant flavour that can only be achieved in an oven. Seasoning was very light and from the taste only salt was used, but it was enough to bring out the sweetness of the octopus. This was my favourite dish of the night!Whenever there is soup on the menu, we always tend to order it. So the 8 1/2 seafood soup was our second appetiser. The soup was quite thin, but very rich in flavour with, what I think, an underlying tomato base. The fish, scallops and squid were fresh and cut into bite-sized pieces which were perfect for spooning up.Dining at an Italian restaurant one must of course order some sort of carbohydrate whether it be pasta or risotto. We chose a lighter option since we were planning to have a heavier meat course and picked the vegetarian burrata cheese ravioli with tomato and eggplant sauce. As half a portion, I counted six neatly folded triangular parcels and slicing one in half revealed an oozy, stretchy filling of snow-white burrata cheese. The sauce was fresh and lightly sweet, quite a perfect accompaniment with the ravioli. Very good.For our meat course, Mr. C suggested I try the veal chop as it is one of 8 1/2's signature dishes. So trusting him I agreed and we ordered a serving for one to share. The veal chop was presented as a schnitzel and was served and cut up at the table. The methodical crunch that sounded as the knife sliced through the breading actually made me anticipate eating it even more. The server recommended we give a generous squeeze of lemon over the veal chop before eating it, and he was right as when eaten plain, it was quite dry and tasteless, but with the addition of lemon juice the zestiness lifted the overall flavour immediately. Do remember to eat the side of sliced cherry tomatoes they provide on the side as they were just so sweet~I was actually quite sated at this point, so was not particularly in the mood for dessert. Mr. C had the strawberry panacotta all to himself and seemed to enjoy it, claiming that the strawberries were very sweet.

Petite fours, a trio of pistachio nougat, milk chocolate pieces and shortbread cookies. They did not look especially appealing so we just left it at that.For a restaurant that has earned three stars and has recently been placed at Number. 39 in the World's 50 Best Restaurant List it certainly has its admirers. The prices were very reasonable and service although a little haphazard at times was attentive. However maybe because I am not that enamoured with Italian fine dining, I found the food to be reasonably well done, but still not as spectacular as what others claim it to be. That aside, it is an accomplished restaurant and is worthy of a visit.

http://www.ottoemezzobombana.com/hong-kong/en/homepage/ <-- click!

Special meals are reserved for special occasions. Splurging once in a while makes the event more memorable.

Environment:
It was a noisy, relaxed and homey environment. The ceiling was quite low and the window seats overlooked Chater Road(?). Our seat was a booth surrounded by plane mirrors. Seats were quite closely packed together. No stress at all. Wouldn't have expected a 3-star to be so casual! - in a good way though.

Service:
Attentive and professional, unintrusive. No pretense. I quite enjoy being served by local waiters. Since some of us weren't having the degustation 8 1/2 menu (with or without wine pairing), they gave the a-la-carte diners some plates fro sharing. Very nice. We didn't have to ask.

**Another thing, 2 of us had wine pairing but I wanted a sip of each too, so D asked the waiter to pour the portion into 2 glasses, one for me. They happily accommodated our request! Excellent!

Food:
This entry is for selections off the a la carte menu.
Amuse boucheThinly sliced beef with a dollop of radish mayo

Bread basketLots of variety here, but not as good as Robuchon. The restaurant made it a point to refill these baskets regularly throughout the meal, which gave rise to the danger of overeating, and leaving too little room for the other dishes ><. I also realize that I prefer French bread over Italian. Olive bread was super light, airy, flaky, slightly peppery, not too fond of it. The rest of it is just mediocre. The balsamic vinegar was too watery and acidic. Didn't like the taste. EVOO was fragrant and high in viscosity.

Marinated Hokkaido Scallop - calvisius elite caviar, green apple and vegetable salad $380The scallops could be fresher. I couldn't taste a distinct scallop flavour and they were extremely soft. There was a bit of finely diced green apple to add to the texture. Appreciated that - the fruitiness and slight acidity/sweetness gave a fine flavour to the seafood. Caviar was delicious - very fresh and buttery.

Iberico de bellota 2008 'gran reserva' simon martin $230You might think this is too much and too salty. But no. I couldn't have enough of it. Skillfully and very thinly sliced - with very little break. Generous helping too. Melt in mouth. Fragrant.

Osso buco - braised veal shank with saffron risotto $390The best big chunk of meat I've had in a long time. Delicious tender - falls off the bone, then melts in the mouth. The meat was flavoursome and not too fatty. But curiously I found it more sour than I would've hoped. Wonder why. I had another go at the bone marrow (first time I had it was at lily&bloom), and found it delicious, despite the fact that I did not like the texture. As you can see the portion is HUGE. Saffron risotto was very creamy and much tastier than the truffle risotto (see related post) because the grains were softer. I prefer them that way. About the creaminess - yes, it was smooth and creamy, but not too cheesy. But I wasn't quite able to identify saffron.

Line caught sea bass - cooked in sorrento lemon, confit vegetables, EVOO dressing fennel jus $380H order this, I don't remember this dish well.

I was completely stuffed after the osso bucco - can't imagine how I managed to finish dessert. Perhaps everyone does have a second stomach for sweet foods. Perhaps upon the sighting and anticipation of sweet food (pleasure), the stomach expands just a teeny bit?

Coffee trio - a must tryI was most impressed by this dessert. Tiramisu: super thick and creamy. Oh, so satisfying. It is not the classic tiramisu. It has mini choco balls and a bit of coffee jelly at the bottom. Lovely presentation. I scraped the bottom clean. Coffee ice cream was intensely coffee. No jokes. Not cloyingly sweet or sickeningly creamy. There were some crunchy morsels circling the scoop of ice cream. The coffee tart was highly impressive as well - the custard in the middle was even softer and milkier than panna cotta. Almost like drinking a semi-solid coffee. Wow. Delicious. The crust was thin but not as brittle as I would've hoped. A little dense and hard. Could be more cookie crust-like.

Conclusion:
Impressed by food, service, and loved the relaxing environment. Will mark this down as one of my choices for special dinners.

Note to self: do not gorge on bread. Save space for the main meal!

Degustation 8 1/2 (with wine pairing)
Reasonably priced given that this is a 3-star resto.

1. Lobster salad and oscietra caviar - Celery jelly, couscous, winter leaves and champagne dressing (w/ Spumante Metodo Classico 2007, ContrattoSimilar ingredients as the a la carte appetizer (see related post). Liked the celery jelly, which was cold and refreshing. Delicate flavours on the plate. Paired with a slightly dry, light sparkling wine, appropriate.

2. Homemade tagliolini - with maguro tuna, bottarga and hot peppers (w/ Friulano 2011, Livio FellugaI actually prefer dried pasta over fresh eggy pasta. Dried pasta yields the al dente texture I am looking for. Whereas for home made fresh pasta, it's much more time-consuming to make and can go terribly wrong. Becomes doughy easily. The tuna wasn't exceptional because it was seared - it became rough, and as expected, was slightly sour. There wasn't an appropriate sauce to bring everything together either. Quite disappointed. The dish had a consistent seafoody freshness throughout, which is not my favorite kind of thing...hm. Wine was dry, crisp.

3. Black winter truffle risotto - green asparagus, aromatic cheeses (w/ pinot nero 2010, castello della sala, antinoriChef came out personally to serve and shave the black winter truffle. That was quite heartwarming and a nice touch to an intimate dinner. Very, very generous with the shavings I tell you -
So the disappointing thing about these truffles was, that they smelled earthy and fresh and inviting - good fragrance coming from a raw mushroom. But in terms of taste, it's not that amazing. I actually prefer porcini or chanterelles or shitake cooked in a suitable sauce. The risotto was quite raw. Not al dente - a bit too raw in the middle. The consistency was otherwise nice and sloppy. Therefore despite the fact that the was a large mound of truffle shavings, I did not find the dish particularly enjoyable, and I would think twice before ordering again.

4a. Colorado rack of lamb - artichoke puree, black olive and lamb jus I didn't try, R said it was soft and gamey.

4b. M9 Tajima beef sirloin - black winter truffle mashed potato, red wine and truffle jus (w/ Le serre muove dell 'ornellaia 2010, tenuta dell ornellaia)I am not a big fan of large slabs of red meat, but this thing was really good . Unexpectedly good. As you can see it is very pink in the middle, but not bloody, no blood water, lovely. Had a good rest of 5-10 minutes for the juices to be absorbed. Very tender and soft, melt in the mouth, juicy. Extremely delicious blackened crust. Char-grilled. Great smokey flavour. Dig.

5. Montebianco - marron ice cream, meringue and chantilly (w/ Les Abeilles moscato-passito NV, Les CretesDessert wine was very, very sweet. Woody, oak tones. Nice and chilled. Any warmer and it would be cloying.

6. Coffee or tea - served with homemade petit foursPetit fours not spectacular.

Conclusion:
Impressed by food, service, and loved the relaxing environment. Will mark this down as one of my choices for special dinners. But it seems that the a-la-carte items are much more impressive. Not necessary to go for degustation in my opinion.

吃過Amber的梳乎厘後，再來8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA吃多一個梳乎厘。Limoncello Soufflé，Raspberry Jelly，Honey Ice Cream，$140。很想吃這裡的朱古力味梳乎厘，但今次跟上次來一樣只有Limoncello Soufflé，而且價錢也加了$10。對比上次來吃，今次梳乎厘的賣相焗得比較好，入口十分鬆軟滑溜，輕巧濕潤，泡泡口感較Amber吃的朱古力梳乎厘重，底部亦沒有糖粒的積聚。味道上，酒味較為適中並帶著甜香，不會過於激烈，上次酒味濃得過於苦澀，令味道不太好吃。旁邊的伴蜜糖雪糕伴著底部的是紅桑莓啫喱，有酸酸甜甜的莓味，但卻沒有蜜糖甜。整體梳乎厘的口感都不錯，希望能可以快吃到朱古力味的。

This was our second visit to the 3-starred 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana. The first thing we noticed upon our arrival was the fact that the staff looked much younger and less experienced than before. Perhaps the expansion to Shanghai has taken a chunk of experience away from the core here.

Lunch was the usual 2-course or 3-course selection unless we want to go splurge with the a la carte menu. That had stayed pretty much the same since its debut. Confit of "Taiyouren" organic egg (Grade: 3/5)
After a basket of bread, here came our appetizers first with a confit of "Taiyouren" organic egg. The onsen egg was met with a nice roman cauliflower emulsion and roasted herb bread to form a surprisingly rich combination of flavors. Octopus and lobster (Grade: 2.5/5)
Another starter was a dish of sautéed octopus and lobster. It had a bit of Mediterranean twist to it after the addition of an acquerello rice salad (which tasted very much like cous cous).

I thought this was an average dish. The previous organic egg starter faired slightly better. After finishing up our appetizers, we sat back to relax while waiting for our main courses to arrive. But that seemed to be taking forever.

More than half an hour has passed us by and we began to lose a bit of our patience. But we wanted to be polite so instead of calling our server over, we started playing around with our smartphones trying to get the waiting staff's attention. That did not work at all so eventually we called someone over.

Lamb medallion (Grade: 3/5)
Finally our main courses did arrive. The lamb medallion served on braised salsify with mushroom and natural jus was tender enough but the combination with the sauce and sidedish did not make much headway.Going back to the service for a moment, this was the worst pacing I have ever seen from any 3-star Michelin restaurant. And that was puzzling considering that we only had a 2-course lunch set, not a complicated 12-course degustation menu.

Snapper with baby spinach (Grade: 2/5)
At the first glance, I thought I was going to have fried egg white as my main course. However, when I looked a bit closer, it was actually a thin slice of snapper fish sitting on a bed of baby spinach and served with an orange, oregano and extra virgin olive oil dressing.

Yes I remembered now - I did order snapper. In all honesty, I was a bit shocked with how thin they made the snapper and the taste just wasn't particularly attractive.After our main courses, we decided that we were not going to wait another 30 minutes for our dessert so we went for the bill instead.

It is rather difficult for me to write this piece, as the other party will never ever be present at my foodie experience anymore; nonetheless, I would still make an effort to relive again the dining experience that night spent at 8 1/2. I have been wanting to visit 8 1/2 for quite some time already. Having received mix comments about the restaurant and other new dining places in town, my reservation here was finally made, at the Christmassy season.

The tasting menu was a Black & White Truffle dinner set this month. Though dishes on the a la carte menu looked tempting, we were a little lazy and just picked the set. I loved the ambience, how we were separated by a huge glass window from the outside world, where I overlooked people busy walking along the streets while I could sit back and stay away from the pressure, for a little while. Amuse Bouche was a fried shrimp. Well, my impression on the shrimp was, it reminded me of a tasty Chinese-style pan-fried prawn!So I shifted my hope to the proper courses that were going to be served. Then here came the first course - Lobster Salad and Calvisius Caviar. There was celery jelly, cous cous with champagne dressing. Not very sure if it was the champagne dressing was strong enough or my sensory cells was fooled by my wish, I finally was able to taste a little of the dressing in the last few bites. Lobster was fresh nonetheless, was expecting a more special and tasty salad from Chef Bombana.Our second dish was served, which was our first truffle course - Homemade Tagliolini with butter, parmesan and Winter Truffle from Alba. The truffle aroma smelled so good when it was lavishly sliced and covered up all the tagliolini. Pasta was al dente.Followed by Black Truffle, our third dish was brought to the table - Black Winter Truffle Risotto, which was prepared along with green asparagus and aromatic cheeses. Again, it was generously sliced on the risotto. The dissipation of truffle aroma to my sensory cells was a must, while risotto was just so-so.We ordered the two mains so we could try both - Colorado Rack of Lamb and Mayura Beef Tenderloin. The lamb was definitely better than what I have expected. It was cooked medium rare, crispy on the surface while tender at heart. Even though I was not a fan of lamb, the smell was not pungent at all and I actually enjoyed the dish! Artichoke puree was on the side, which was a lovely complement. The beef was cooked with Barolo wine jus. Every bite was an enjoyment. These two mains won back quite a lot of the impression for the night.I have always been a dessert girl, but when I learned that it was a chestnut dessert. My heart sank. I disliked chestnut cake to an extent that if I had a choice, I would never put that in my mouth. The chef indeed took a harder route and challenged the diners' taste buds that the last course of the night was Montebianco - Marron Ice-cream and Meringue. I could not resist the fact that I actually LIKED this dessert! The chestnut flavor was unbelievably good and I gobbled it down my throat without further hesitation.
Petit fours came last with tea. Loved the Christmas bread with nuts and raisin inside. The yoghurt/ white chocolate piece was a little too sweet for my liking. Dinner was overall great, perhaps the wait to come to this restaurant was too long that it has raised my expectations to an unreasonable level. If I were to given it Michelin star, I would give it a one instead of a three. Some dishes were definitely very nicely prepared while some were not as special as I had imagined. Servers were very attentive and elaborative when explaining the dinner set. To make a dinner unforgettable, I reckon there are a few indispensable elements - Food (of course), Service (absolutely), Ambience (how comfy people feel at the place) and last, but not least, Who you eat with. Sometimes when I eat alone and look at the empty chair at the other end of the table, I imagine one day, there would be someone who would accompany me along my foodie experience and brighten up the whole journey. Thanks to the restaurant and the person who was present for this lovely dinner at Winterland 8 1/2.

I liked it how Chef Bombana actually went to a few tables and sliced the truffles. What I usually see at other restaurants was how the head chef walked around and monitored, how he worked at an open kitchen, but he had not come out and prepared the food in front of the diners. This had certainly made an impression.

足足3星期前訂位, 究竟有咩巴閉?

環境簡潔, 樓景.

星期六的下午, 顧客頗多, 仲好多係一家人, 但不嘈雜.

兩個人吃午餐, $ 380 +10% 兩個Courses, 甜品再加$70大元.

麵包新鮮熱辣, 蕃茄味果款最好食, 可是我哋都覺得Chef XXX By Eddy 的蕃茄麵包好食D.前菜
Lobster and Octopus, Winter Vegetables and Acquerello Rice Salad 龍蝦和八爪魚好軟腍, 加埋汁+沙律, 味道清新, 最滿意的一道菜.Confit of "Taiyouren " Organic Egg, Roman Cauliflower Eulsion and Roasted Herb Bread 温泉旦配椰菜花蓉, 顏色幾靚, 但他一吃, 便說很懷念"鏡子餐廳"的温泉旦.主菜
Cotechio Winter Sausage, Beef Cheek and Lentil Mushroom Ragout 牛臉頰肉份量不多, 煮得好滑好香, 有水準的.Snapper on Baby Spinach, Orange, Oregano and Extra virgin olive oil Dressing : 恰巧早幾日我在四季酒店內的餐廳吃過超級嫩滑的Snapper, 珠玉在前, 這個明顯地比下去了. 然而, 我很喜歡舖在底下的菠菜, 翠綠有嚼勁.甜品
Chocolate Trio with Warm Chocolate Macchiato 他說朱古力味很濃, 沒有驚喜.Bronte Pistchio Ice Cream Vanilla Roasted Cherries 開心果雪糕配車厘子, 味道配襯, 唔太甜, 穩打穏紥.Petis Four: 軟糖和朱古力好好食

Coffee / Tea: 套餐不包括咖啡或茶, 令人充滿問號之餘, 再多欠一個句號.

服務員常常加水, 但由頭到尾都沒有介紹過D食物. 這不是忙過打仗的茶餐廳, 而是草民對三星米芝蓮的一個普通期待.

想著在中環區到那裡吃甜品，想坐得舒適，又想試些新甜品，吃過St Betty的早午餐後便來了8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA。這間是今年米芝蓮三星的意大利餐廳，之前朋友來過吃甜品，質素當然還不錯，今天再來，甜品款式沒有大變，點了四款來吃。先來是Grand Cru Chocolate in 5 Styles，Brûlée，Fondant，Cream，Crumble and Ice Cream，$150。五款朱古力的演繹，先是心太軟，細小的蛋糕內藏著熱融的朱古力漿，味道不夠香濃，不過不會太甜，蛋糕也不會乾身。中間的是朱古力味燉蛋，面層有薄薄一層焦糖，香甜滑溜。而另一杯是朱古力雪糕加上忌廉加脆片，雪糕也軟滑，加上薄脆，口感還好。White Chocolate and Nougat Ice Cream Cannelloni，Hazelnut Praline Toast，Passion Fruit Cream，$130。兩條長型的甜品，薄薄的朱古力包著是白朱古力及鳥結糖味雪糕，味道不太甜，但鳥結糖味道不太突出。另外的是榛子蛋糕，上面還有熱情果慕絲，酸酸甜甜，較為好吃。Coffee Trio，Tiramisu，Warm Coffee Tart and Crunchy Coffee Ice Cream，$130。Tiramisu的Mascarpone芝士打得挺實幼滑，帶著微甜，下是的手指餅濕潤，但咖啡味道不濃，底下也有點咖啡啫喱，味道同樣不太明顯。而咖啡撻中心的咖啡醬質感稀稠，也有咖啡香，撻底微脆，但略欠牛油香，伴著一球咖啡雪糕，整體三者配合咖啡味道可更濃郁。朋友嚐試過這裡的梳乎厘說挺不錯，所以也點了兩客小的梳乎厘，Limoncello Soufflé，Raspberry Jelly，Honey Ice Cream，$130。梳乎厘焗得高高的，十分鬆軟濕潤，但內裡很重泡泡口感，而酒味過於激烈，變得苦澀，味道不太討好。相反另一小杯紅桑莓果醬伴蜜糖雪糕，酸酸甜甜，夾著底部少許脆脆，口感豐富好吃。最後也有Petit four，開心果曲奇、朱古力及熱情果軟糖，整體甜品其實不太差，想找個舒適地方吃甜品，也可來這裡。

Book咗枱帶家人來試下呢間米芝蓮餐廳門口內裏裝修不是太大menu，三佰八十元頭盤加主菜没有餐飲，甜品要另外加錢都幾貴麵包有多款食完會再加,味道普通，如果麵包熱就好喇Sea food salad 有帶子蝦同鱿魚，沙津係白豆同雜菜，味道一般蘑菇湯味夠濃好飲獤牛肉加上沙津汁肉好淋呢個最好食大家都選了牛肉, 牛肉得三粒有牛肉味好淋,伴菜好食,不過太細份，食完好似冇食過咁加七十元甜品, 大家都選了朱古力三食, 朱古力撻，朱古力好濃好香不過撻底超硬

朱古力雪糕好滑超好食

熱朱古力普通送嘅小食
價錢貴味道0K不過D食物太细份食完真係唔飽