Chef Umberto Bombana is in top-class company.
The much-watched Michelin restaurant guide has endowed his Central restaurant, 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana, with three stars, the first Italian eatery outside of Italy to achieve the exceptional grading.
'It's a dream come true,' Bombana, an 18-year veteran of Hong Kong, said.
The restaurant is just one of two Western eateries in the city - along with French contemporary L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon - to be elevated from two to three-star status in the 2012 edition of the Michelin Red Guide Hong Kong and Macau, due out today. They join two Four Seasons Hotel restaurants - the French outlet Caprice and Cantonese restaurant Lung King Heen - that retain the coveted three stars.
Bombana, who worked his way up from washing dishes three decades ago, said freshness was the essence of Italian cuisine.
'Hong Kong is now the best city in the world. I can get all ingredients here,' he said.