Meatball rigatoni served at the restaurant. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Another surprise as well as the must-have starter is the warm seafood salad, topped with avocado, lemon and parsley. It looks simple: generous chunks of shrimp, lobster and octopus topped with a beautiful swirl of avocado slices. But after the first bite, the creamy, rich taste lingers, arousing your curiosity about the recipe, which includes vegetable broth, white wine, chili powder and dill.

There is always the dilemma at Italian restaurants between pastas and pizzas, or essentially, weight versus diet. At Mercato, you may want to just go on a binge of both and go for a whole lot of exercise afterwards.

The pizzas, coming hot out of the gigantic oven standing in the center of the restaurant and a dish seen on almost every table, may explain why there are people willing to choose seats by the oven over those overlooking the Bund view: to snatch a mouthful of the pizzas seconds earlier.