8½ Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA Macau

8½ Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA Macau

Bombana in Macau is undeniably a restaurant that offers a delightful dining experience. The most profound impression comes from the distinctly different service style, where the front-of-house staff demonstrate exceptional control over the dining environment, engaging each table with lively conversation and guiding the dining order in a rhythm seemingly orchestrated by the front-of-house design.

Among the vast, lavishly decorated restaurants in Macau, Bombana's location and setting are rather ordinary. Situated on the second floor of the Galaxy mall, the storefront suggests a price point of just a few hundred per person, and the restaurant itself isn't large, with an estimated 100 square meters accommodating about 11 tables for four.

Despite these spatial constraints, the servers move effortlessly between tables, attentive to each guest's mood, often conveying goodwill on behalf of the chef.

For the front-of-house team, I believe achieving two things scores highly: (1) Guests can easily identify the "person in charge," the one with the highest authority in customer relations. If you're unhappy, you should be able to directly approach them for immediate action, without the need for others to summon or explain the situation to them; (2) All staff that come into direct contact with guests should maintain high service quality, confidently answering any inquiries without shying away or needing backup. The first point represents the upper limit of service quality, while the second represents the lower limit.

At Bombana Macau, upon being seated, a foreign male manager will greet you at the table, and the female manager, dressed in a red dress, symbolizing power, lets you quickly discern who the decision-maker is. You can then choose who you'd prefer to deal with based on gender or language preference. Each table is assigned two servers, introduced by name by the manager, who will take care of your dining for the evening, thus providing service continuity. Normally, I learn server names through name tags or by asking, but Bombana Macau is one of the few restaurants that introduces front-line staff by name without name tags, perhaps hoping that staff will be remembered for their personality and service quality rather than a name badge.

I believe this is not Bombana Group's training but rather the unique service style of the Macau location. The service at Shanghai Bombana, for example, doesn't match any of the scoring points I mentioned, and a meal there could result in negative points.

"Delivering goodwill on behalf of the chef" is also an important yet often overlooked aspect of front-of-house duties. It's no small feat for the front-of-house to accurately relay messages to and from the kitchen, and too often, they shift blame to the chef, who is then forced to come out and defend themselves to displeased guests. In truth, neither the restaurant manager nor the chef's role is to "take the heat" or "apologize"; by the time it reaches that point, it's already too late. At best, you can pull a guest's mood from negative back to zero, but a good restaurant should aim to lift spirits into positive territory, ideally to the fullest.

In Macau, after questioning whether the "Tomato and Cheese" was a standard dish across Bombana restaurants (as it was the same version I had in Shanghai, even after Chef Riccardo had left), I was immediately tagged as a "regular" and began to receive special treatment. When the "Scallop" appetizer arrived, the server mentioned that the chef had sent black truffles as a special gesture, and generously shaved them onto the dish. Later, when the "Red Prawn Pasta" arrived with a generous portion, I intended to have it cleared after eating half to save room, but was told by the server that the chef had specially increased the portion for me. I quickly retracted my request, not wanting to disappoint the chef's intentions, and after eating much more, was praised by the server, making me feel rewarded and realizing I was being led along. It's not that I necessarily believe these "courtesies" were directed by Chef Riccardo; it's more likely that the front-of-house took the initiative, attributing the credit to the chef, allowing guests to subtly sense the smooth communication and close relationship between the front and back of the house, like the restaurant playing a well-coordinated game of chess.

This is probably the first time I've written so much about a restaurant's service. Returning to the food, the offerings that night were impressive, with lightness, richness, and freshness interspersed throughout, with seafood outshining red meat, and a style blending Japanese and Italian influences. The start, with three types of bread paired with two olive oils, sets a strong first impression of the restaurant's meticulousness.

The amuse-bouche, "Tomato and Cheese," featured mozzarella turned into a foam, paired with clarified tomato water, sprinkled with herb and tomato powders, offering a classic lightness with a bit of

acidity.

The first appetizer, "Black Truffle Scallop," was a welcome return of imported black truffles, utterly delicate, a significant step up from the thick and tasteless versions from Yunnan, with Bombana's truffles being the best in Macau. The scallops, prepared to a soft-boiled consistency, were paired with pumpkin sauce and tiny pumpkin flowers, a dish that's hard to go wrong with.

The second appetizer, "Blue Lobster," featured a broth made from lobster claws and shells, paired with spinach and topped with sea urchin, delivering a straightforward, robust seafood flavor. However, I thought the dish could've enhanced the Japanese-Italian fusion further by using kombu for a more complex and subtle umami broth.

The pasta, "Red Prawn Pasta," handled the red prawns well, but for less sauce adherence, used machine-made thin pasta rather than handcrafted, which, while lacking a bit of soul, was still enjoyable given the special enlarged portion.

The main course, "Beef," followed a conventional preparation, served with beef jus, mashed potatoes, morel mushrooms, and two small pieces of beef tongue, a traditional and satisfactory dish.

The first dessert, "Handmade Ice Cream," was outstanding. Five ice cream balls were hand-churned by the restaurant manager right at the table, an arm-strengthening feat, with lemon juice and sparkling wine added during the process, and finished with grated lemon zest on top. It starts with a bright acidity from the lemon, followed by a creamy aftertaste, and ends with a bubbly sensation – a dessert that sweeps away fatigue.

Overall, a visit to 8½ Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA Macau is a symphony of excellent service and commendable cuisine that harmonizes light and rich flavors, leaving a lasting impression of satisfaction.