Sunshine on a plate for fans of Italian fare

Mediterranean seafood stew soup is a popular dish in Calypso in Shanghai. [Photo by Pauline D. Loh/China Daily]

As the weather warms and the flowers start to color the concrete jungle, Calypso shines like a diamond on the edge of the Jing'an Kerry Centre Piazza, its glass facade sparkling in the spring sunshine.

Inside, the light continues to shine on individual plates.

Lunch is a pleasant experience made easy by set menus that allow diners plenty of choices, but focused enough to please busy executives who do not want to troll through an extensive list of dishes.

You eat as much, or as little, as your appetite and budget allow, with the starter or soup, main and dessert set costing just 148 yuan ($24). All sets come with after-meal coffee or tea.

The most luxurious lunch: the complete combo of starter, soup, seafood, meat and dessert. That sets you back 228 yuan per person and a much longer lunch break.

Calypso does not impose service charges.

Now that we've got the business end out of the way, let's walk through some of the options.

The Mediterranean seafood soup is a lively red bowl that comes with garlic bread, its tomato-rich broth hiding generous chunks of salmon, prawns and squid. Its calmer cousin is the faun-colored mushroom soup, topped by chunks of country bread croutons.