Rum and seafood don’t usually go together, but we’re travelling through Far North Queensland, where they like to rewrite the rules. On a breezy afternoon, I’ve found myself at Crystalbrook Riley’s just-opened Calypso Club bar and kitchen located overlooking the Cairns waterfront.
Taking inspiration from Far North Queensland’s sugarcane growing history and the contemporary rum renaissance, the Calypso Club’s cocktail list features local rums blended with tropical fruit juices. For example, the ‘Club Stinger’ blends Atherton Tablelands’ Mt Uncle Distillery aged rum with hibiscus, watermelon and grapefruit. Before you get to beer, wine and other spirits, six further pages of the drinks menu highlight rums and rum liqueurs from around the world.
The food menu is just as beguiling, with coral trout ceviche, fresh oysters doused in lime vinaigrette, tempura soft shell crab, rainbow trout tostada, and the ‘Calypso Roll’, which riffs off the iconic lobster rolls of New England, using seasonal local shellfish. There’s even a nostalgic nod to old-fashioned fish and chips shops with potato scallops served with garlic aioli and vinegar mist.
If you’re heading to Calypso Club from the hotel’s lagoon-style pool, don’t bother dressing up. “You could be in your swimmers with a kaftan or a nice cocktail dress to laze the afternoon away,” says Belinda Danks-Woodley, as she shows me around. Out the front, artist Mark Conlon is putting the finishing touches on a colourful hand-painted mural. Curious passersby poke their heads in for a peek at what’s unfolding.
The new venue is in good culinary company – just a coconut’s toss from Rusty’s Market with its 180-something stalls laden with exotic fruit and fresh-picked vegetables, colourful craft breweries like Three Wolves, and deliciously different restaurants like Moku Bar & Grill, CC’s Bar & Grill and Ochre.
The vibe will be “cruisy in the afternoon, with soulful beats into the night,” says Danks-Woodley. With capacity for 120 guests, Calypso Club’s interior contains high and low seating, marrying pale timber surfaces with bold pineapple-patterned walls. Its exterior sprawls out to the street with leaner bars and bookable day beds shaded by brightly coloured umbrellas. It’s the perfect spot to dine, drink and go a little bit troppo.
The Calypso Club is open midday to late, Wednesday to Sunday.
