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When Hong Kong chef Umberto Bombana served Madonna the wrong dish

Luckily the singer didn’t mind being served northern Italian version of a dish, not southern one she wanted, recalls chef whose Italian restaurant, 8½ Otto e Mezzo in Central, is the only one outside Italy to have three Michelin stars

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Chef Umberto Bombana at his restaurant, 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana, in the Landmark Alexandra, Central. Picture: Nora Tam

THE FAMILY KITCHEN I was born in Italy, in a small country house near Clusone, a village in the province of Bergamo, at the foot of the Bergamasque Alps. Growing up immersed in a rural atmosphere, as fortunately happen­ed to me, means being able to connect from the start with the seasonal patterns. June represented the scent of freshly cut hay, just before my uncle fed it to his cows; August still brings memories of bright yellow corn, ready for harvest­ing, and the garden where my grandmother grew vegetables with almost obsessive care. The best ingredi­ents came from there and ended up in the large kitchen, where everyone, from my grandma to my mum and my father – who went there to cook game – used to spend a lot of time planning meals, sorting ingredients and preparing typical family dishes.

FIRST TASTES I was the only one out of six siblings who was really attracted to the fascinating, cosy and warm environ­ment of the kitchen. I took my passion for cooking from my grandmother, a great cook who had been working for years in the kitchen of an aristocratic family. When I was only three years old, she handed me a fork and asked me to roll the gnocchi on the tip of it to make those beautiful, light grooves that allow gnocchi to absorb the sauce. That move­ment, the soft texture of the dough and the satisfaction of seeing the gnocchi materialise in my little hands is something I will never forget. It made me truly happy.

8½ Otto e Mezzo in Alexandra House, Central. Picture: SCMP
8½ Otto e Mezzo in Alexandra House, Central. Picture: SCMP
GUINEA PIGS It was quite common, back in the 1970s, to have part-time jobs after school, to earn some pocket money. At the age of 11, I started helping in the kitchen of a restaurant near my place. I watched the chef at work and tried to memor­ise his moves. Afterwards, I came home every night to try the recipes, using my brothers as guinea pigs during tasting sessions. They were quite worried back then but now they like to say that I always had what it took to become a proper chef. When it came to high school, I chose to attend the Cater­ing and Hospitality School in Clusone, near where I lived. Besides the cooking practice, I was very attracted to a chef’s life, someone I pictured with a suitcase packed and ready, often travelling the world. That was what I wanted to do.
I clearly remember my first impression of Hong Kong. I landed in the terrible heat of mid-August and promised myself I would stay for three months only, not a single day more. It’s now, what – 23 years?
Chef Umberto Bombana

MY MAESTRO I started my journey away from home near Milan, when I was called to work at the Antica Osteria del Ponte, in Cassinetta di Lugagnano, at the court of one of the great chefs, Ezio Santin, a man who had an extraordinary sensitivity in the kitchen and the greatest gift of balance. He was the one who taught me the importance of purity and stability of flavours. In his kitchen, I worked with a guy who planned to move to Los Angeles and asked me to join him there. They were hiring people at the Rex Restaurant, a mythi­cal place that represented Italian culinary excellence in LA.

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