8 1⁄2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana

8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana is a two-Michelin-star Italian restaurant on Yuanmingyuan Road, near the Bund in Shanghai. It fills the upper floors of the Associate Mission Building.

Umberto Bombana, known as the king of white truffles, founded the restaurant group, whose original restaurant is in Hong Kong. The Shanghai branch opened on the Rockbund in 2012. Day to day the kitchen is run by executive chef Nicolò Rotella, who arrived in 2023 after working at Il Sorriso, Il Piccolo Lago and Da Vittorio in Italy. Ervin Ong manages the restaurant and leads the wine team, and Michelin has named him the city's sommelier of the year.

Michelin describes elegant Italian flavours built from ingredients sourced worldwide and modern technique. Bluefin tuna tartare comes in a cone with a sorbet made from aubergine caponata, and confit snow crab comes with caviar, its sauce built on Chinese yellow wine with ginger and white soy sauce. Rotella's signature raviolo is filled with Sicilian almonds, topped with Oscietra caviar and served in a leek consommé clarified with sea bream. Wagyu tenderloin is charred and finished with veal jus and a bitter herb sauce, and white truffles take over the menu in season.

The restaurant has a main dining room, a private room, a cocktail bar and lounge, a balcony with views and a glass-walled wine cellar. A chef's table for two or three sits inside the kitchen in the cooler months. Chinese yellow wine in an Italian crab dish and Thai basil in a scampi bisque show how the kitchen lets its city into the cooking without losing its Italian base.