Atto Primo, an Italian on the Shanghai’s Bund

The Bund is one of the most iconic destinations in Shanghai and China: on the West side of the Huangpu river the massive buildings of the old Shanghai form the backdrop for an amazing promenade where you can admire the modern skyscrapers on the East side of the river, Pudong. Competition among restaurants on the Bund is fierce.

Atto Primo is an high-end Italian restaurant located in one of the popular addresses for restaurants on the Bund: Bund 5 (technically 20 Guangdong Lu). It is the first fine dining concept by Yum! Brands, a corporation better known for its fast-food chains KFC and Pizza Hut.  It was launched in 2015.

The visit

I was invited by two friends of mine to have lunch with them so we could try several dishes.

The place is simple and yet luxurious. The view on the river and Pudong is of course one of the pluses of the location.

We went on a Sunday for lunch and a brunch option was available (if I recall correctly, less than 300 CNY for three dishes). However, the brunch menu selection was quite limited so we ordered a la carte.

The menu was extensive and, good signal, there were no typos. Clearly they had a professional team designing the offering. I also spotted an Italian guy that must have been the executive chef.

We started with a selection of cheese that sported generous cuts of Italian varieties such as Gorgonzola and Taleggio.

We also had a “carbonara” focaccia. The focaccia was topped with eggs and smoked bacon (kind like carbonara pasta… actually carbonara should come with guanciale, that is the cheek of the pork). It was a very filling dish and next time I would probably avoid it. It was slightly underbaked, but still good though.

By the way, there was no shortage of dough on the table, as the complimentary break basket also had some focaccia and was promptly replenished when we finished the first one.

My choice for “primo” (the first pasta dish in an Italian meal) was orecchiette with sausage, pecorino cheese and broccoli. I liked it. It was a large portion and they were very generous with the condiment, there was a piece of sausage for every bite.

One of my friends had another type of pasta called gnocchetti sardi (short cuts) with octopus and cherry tomatoes. You do not find this kind of pasta easily outside Italy. It is originally from Sardinia and, as it is explained on this website, “the real specialty of these small gnocchi is their size, studied to give an inimitable texture and their scored surface, which used to be made by squashing the tiny pieces of dough with your thumb against the bottom of a wicker basket, called “ciurili” but today a grooved chopping board is used.” He was also pleased.

The only dish we did not entirely liked was the seafood linguine. The past tasted a bit over-cooked.

We all shared the second dishes. The first one was an half kilo of lamb chops. Very nice. We requested it medium, but it was cooked almost rare (maybe there is a pattern here?). Apart from that, it was very good.

Then we had a delicious dish of saltimbocca (veal wrapped in ham). The meat was very juicy and tasty.

Finally, we tried a seafood dish: sarde. It was less impressive than the meat dishes, but still good.

The check

No check because my friends offered the lunch.

Overall, Atto Primo was a good experience. The food was quite authentic and well-prepared. The menu is extensive and includes many dishes that are hardly seen in run-of-the-mill Italian restaurants in Asia. Also I must acknowledge that all the dishes could be shared as the portions were quite generous. Still not sure how we could eat all that food in three.

Where in Shanghai:
2/F, 20 Guangdong Lu,
Address in Chinese:  广东路20号2楼
Pro-tip: it can be reserved using Chope.