Made ByRestaurant
On the 36th floor of Three on the Bund, Mercato brings Michelin Plate-recognised Italian cooking to one of Shanghai's most commanding addresses. Chef Kelvin Chai anchors the menu in Italian ingredient tradition, the kind of cooking where provenance does the persuading. At the ¥¥¥ price tier, it sits comfortably among Shanghai's mid-to-upper Italian options, with a 4.7 Google rating across reviewed visits.
At a glance
- Cuisine
- Modern Italian
- Price
- $$$$
- Per person
- $70
- Neighborhood
- The Bund
- Rating
- 4.7 (73)
<h2>Thirty-Six Floors Above the Huangpu</h2><p>There are restaurants with views, and then there are restaurants where the view becomes part of the argument for the food. Three on the Bund, the landmarked 1916 building at 3 Zhongshan East First Road, has long housed both kinds. Mercato occupies the 36th floor, which means the sweep of the Huangpu River and the Pudong skyline arrive as context before a single dish does. That physical positioning is not incidental to the experience: the room sets expectations at a register that the kitchen is then asked to meet.</p><p>Shanghai's Italian dining tier has become more stratified over the past decade. At the leading sits <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/8-otto-e-mezzo-bombana-shanghai-restaurant">8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana</a>, which carries the full weight of Umberto Bombana's Michelin pedigree from Hong Kong. Below that, a cluster of ¥¥¥-tier addresses compete on a different axis: ingredient sourcing, format discipline, and how faithfully they translate regional Italian cooking to a Shanghai dining room. Mercato sits in that middle-upper bracket, holding consecutive Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025, the guide's signal that the kitchen is cooking at a consistent and commendable level, even without a star. In that sense it belongs to the same conversation as <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/scarpetta-shanghai-restaurant">Scarpetta</a> and <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/arva-shanghai-restaurant">Arva</a>.</p><h2>The Provenance Argument</h2><p>Italian cooking, at its most serious, is a cuisine of protected designations and obsessive sourcing. The DOP system, Denominazione di Origine Protetta, exists precisely because a Parmigiano-Reggiano aged in Parma and a generic hard cheese are not the same product, regardless of what they look like on a plate. The question worth asking at any Italian restaurant operating outside Italy is how much of that logic survives the translation. At Mercato, under Chef Kelvin Chai, the kitchen's orientation is toward ingredient purity rather than technique spectacle. That approach tends to reveal itself in restraint: fewer sauces designed to compensate for produce that couldn't make the journey, more reliance on the material itself arriving in a state worth showcasing.</p><p>Mercato, under Chef Kelvin Chai, keeps the focus on ingredient purity rather than technique spectacle. What the Michelin Plate, awarded consecutively, suggests is that the inspectors found the cooking credible on its own terms. That credential matters more in context here than it might in Milan or Rome, where the baseline is higher and the sourcing infrastructure more direct. In Shanghai, consistency at this level across two guide cycles is a meaningful signal.</p><p>For a sense of how ingredient-led Italian cooking translates elsewhere in Asia, the comparison extends across the region. <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/cenci-kyoto-restaurant">cenci in Kyoto</a> applies a similar restraint-led philosophy at the intersection of Italian and Japanese produce logic. <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/8-12-otto-e-mezzo-bombana-hong-kong-restaurant">8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Hong Kong</a> represents the starred tier of that same regional conversation. Mercato operates at a different register than either, but the underlying question, what does Italian ingredient discipline look like when the supply chain stretches across continents, connects all three.</p><h2>Where It Fits in the Bund's Dining Geography</h2><p>The Bund corridor has long attracted restaurants that price against the view as much as the food. That dynamic creates a filtering effect: diners who arrive at a 36th-floor address expecting to be impressed tend to benchmark differently than those seeking neighbourhood value. Mercato operates within that logic. At ¥¥¥, it prices at the same tier as Scarpetta and sits one tier below the ¥¥¥¥ addresses like Fu He Hui, which operates in an entirely different cuisine category but occupies a comparable prestige position in the city's premium dining conversation.</p><p> Shanghai's non-Chinese restaurant scene has matured considerably since the early 2000s. The current generation of addresses, Mercato among them, is positioning against a more internationally mobile, cuisine-literate local clientele. That shift changes what the kitchen needs to get right.</p><p> For those tracking premium dining across mainland China, comparable reference points include <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/xin-rong-ji-xinyuan-south-road-beijing-restaurant">Xin Rong Ji in Beijing</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/ru-yuan-hangzhou-restaurant">Ru Yuan in Hangzhou</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/xin-rong-ji-chengdu-restaurant">Xin Rong Ji in Chengdu</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/chef-tams-seasons-macau-restaurant">Chef Tam's Seasons in Macau</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/imperial-treasure-fine-chinese-cuisine-guangzhou-restaurant">Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine in Guangzhou</a>, and <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/dai-yuet-heen-nanjing-restaurant">Dai Yuet Heen in Nanjing</a>. For Italian elsewhere in the city's dining orbit, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/frasca">Frasca</a> and <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/cellar-to-table-shanghai-restaurant">Cellar to Table</a> round out the local Italian and wine-led options worth knowing.</p><h2>Know Before You Go</h2><div style="background:#f7f5f0;border-left:4px solid #b5935a;padding:1.2em 1.5em;margin:2em 0;"><p>Address: 36th Floor, Three on the Bund, 3 Zhongshan East First Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai 200002</p><p>Cuisine: Italian</p><p>Price range: ¥¥¥</p><p>Chef: Kelvin Chai</p><p>Awards: Michelin Plate 2024; Michelin Plate 2025</p><p>Google rating: 4.7 (73 reviews)</p><p>Booking: Recommended</p></div>
Know before you go
- Dress code
- smart_casual
- Reservations
- recommended
- Payment
- credit_card
- Accessibility
- wheelchair_accessible
- Groups
- Welcomed
Frequently asked
Is Mercato a family-friendly restaurant?
Mercato sits at the ¥¥¥ tier on the 36th floor of Three on the Bund, one of Shanghai's more formal dining addresses. The setting and price point orient it toward adult occasions rather than family meals. Parents with older teenagers accustomed to formal dining will find it manageable; those with young children should choose accordingly.
How would you describe the vibe at Mercato?
Thirty-six floors above the Huangpu River at Three on the Bund, the atmosphere is firmly occasion-dining: the room where Shanghai marks anniversaries, client dinners, and arrivals worth commemorating. The Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 signals the kitchen earns its place alongside the view rather than relying on it.
What awards or recognition does Mercato have?
Mercato has received recognition including: Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024).
What should I order at Mercato?
What the two consecutive Michelin Plate awards (2024, 2025) do confirm is that the kitchen under Chef Kelvin Chai is cooking Italian at a level the Guide considers worth flagging — in a city where the Bund's dining corridor has no shortage of restaurants that price against the skyline rather than the plate.
Address
China, 3号外滩三号CN 上海市 黄浦区 中山东一路 36层 邮政编码: 200002
The Bund
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