Italian, Caribbean and continental dishes come looking like pieces of art at this new eatery, but you will have to wait a while till you can do a bottoms up

The ambience screams out fine dining, hardly the sort of place where you can drop a fork and go unnoticed. Calypso is part of a complex with three other restaurants, Tango, Drumsticks and Cypress specialising in different cuisines and beverages.

On offer at Calypso is continental and Italian cuisineu00a0 with a hint of a Caribbean flavour to some of the dishes.

Classic 80s music played for 30 odd minutes by a single performer was sure to give the evening a unique flavour to begin with.

Four out of six wine glasses placed on our table were soon taken away and we knew we were going to miss them.

The menu is concise, with about five options under each of the categories - soups, salads, risottos and pastas. As for the pizzas, Margarita and Pizza Pesante are all you can pick from.

We decided to start the meal with a soup, a chef's speciality, the Polo Al Garlico Fun (Rs 275). The soup was a rich broth of mushroom with crushed garlic and a creamy base.

This soup was perfect for the city weather, generous with salt and low on the spicy front; it did truly perk us up and made us forget the missing wine glasses for a while.

We also tried a Caribe Chicken (Rs 225) one of the few Caribbean specialities on the menu. Chicken cubes cooked in crushed garlic with a hint of vinegar were a tad spicy and sour at the same time. The garnishing of cilantro added to the flavour.

For our main course, we decided on a Chicken Balsamico (Rs 285) and owing to the unavailability of risottos, a Pizza Pesante (Rs 375). The chicken, attractively garnished and served with a dollop of mashed
potatoes was rather intriguing to look at. It was mildly spiced and had a flavour of garlic.
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The meat though was not well done enough for our palate. The pizza was a generous eight-inch affair and topped with caramelised onions, olives, jalapenos and oodles of cheese on a thick crust. The crust was perfectly done and the spicy-sweet flavour of the combination of the jalapenos and caramelized onions makes it a must try.

We could have skipped the desserts, but the Chocolate Trilogy (Rs 175) seduced us right back. A chocolate brownie with a chocolate ganache base came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and chocolate sauce. True to its name, this preparation was definitely an endless saga of sorts involving a lot of chocolate.
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The brownie was soft thanks to the ganache and made a great hot and cold mix on a sizzling platter along with the ice cream. Each of the components at this rather sophisticated eatery, the food, the ambience and the music complement each other. With added wine, the place is sure to roll out culinary experiences worth remembering.

At Calypso, 44, Richmond Road
Call 2554 5555
Meal for two Rs 1,500.
Calypso didn't know we were there. The GUIDE reviews anonymously and pays for meals.

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