With its clean beaches, drop-dead gorgeous sunsets and a heap of restaurants along its coast, Mirissa is one of the best options to go to when you're looking for some touristy vacations.
Brizo is yet another restaurant that dots the coast of Mirissa, and given how we were in the area, we decided to check them out.
Ambience
The absolute best way to get a stellar ambience is to place yourself right at the edge of a wave, and that's exactly what Brizo happened to do.
White plastic beach chairs, palmed roof bed huts, beach umbrellas and a location that pretty much allows the sea to lap at your feet while you eat, the ambience here is superb. You've got the beach, they have tropical house playing in the background, the place is clean and there's enough seating to seat at least 25 people without any problem. You can't really go wrong with that.
Plus, they've got a bunch of doggie cuties that you can befriend while you eat.
Food
If there's one thing that's almost as good as the ambience, it's the food. The food and drinks at Brizo are, compared to the other restaurants in and around Mirissa, hella affordable, especially if you come during happy hour.
The Salt and Pepper Calamari (Rs. 1000) was a wonderfully large portion of batter-fried calamari rings placed inside a large coconut shell. While it was quite nice with a lovely crunch, and chewy rings of calamari in the middle, in comparison to the other dishes we got, it was quite alright. However, if you're one of those people who genuinely like batter-fried calamari, you're gonna love it.
The 2 sauces really helped though. With spicy, tangy kicks from them both and lots of creaminess involved, we enjoyed them.
Our next stop at this seafood town was the Seafood Pizza (Rs. 1600). I don't love the concept of seafood on pizza, but, that didn't necessarily stop me from having like 3 slices of this. Smothered with cheese, marinara sauce and oh yeah, seafood, this is definitely one of the best seafood pizzas we've had to date.
Whitefish, prawn and calamari – the sheer amount of chopped up seafood was unnerving. There was so much of it, we ended up fishing it out of the pizza and then proceeding to eat the rest with the crust.
Now that we're done with swooning over the toppings, let's get to the base, shall we? Thin and almost biscuit-like without charred marks, the base was smothered in marinara sauce. That combined with the seafood, cheese and chilli, this was, in essence, every seafood pizza lovers dream on a wooden plate.
Next up, we have the Butter Fish (Rs. 1000). Big enough to feed 2 very hungry adults, the fish was super fresh and covered in slices of tomato. Tender on the inside, this beaut came to us steaming and utterly beautiful.
The subject of tomato and fish, I found out, is one that is rather controversial. While I happened to quite like the combination, some others weren't quite so sure. If you're one of those people who like the concept of tomato on fish, keep reading, if you're not, we suggest skipping this bit.
Adequately spicy with a lot of mushed up tomato, chilli and onion, it was tangy, and delicious. I'd go for that again.
Aye, the Crab Curry with Garlic Rice (Rs. 800). If you do end up at Brizo after reading this, please, get this. Not only is it affordable as hell, but it's also one of the best crab curries I've had in a very, very long time. And if we're really honest, of all the dishes we had this weekend, this has got to be the best.
The Garlic Rice was a small bed of fluffy yellow basmati tinged with just the slightest amount of garlic infused in it. It was the perfect accompaniment for what's to come.
The Crab curry, on the same hand, was utterly brilliant. Spicy and packed with flavour, this blew us away from the first bite. A pretty healthy looking crab with a heap of meat inside in a pool of fiery red curry that was spicy and salty in every right way, it's highly doubtful that one would hate this. Plus, combined with the spicy, limey coconut sambol, it was a dream come true.
Drinks
Brizo Mirissa happens to have a list of bizarre and not so bizarre cocktails and such you can choose from.
The Gin Fizz (Rs. 750) was a mix of gin, egg whites, sugar and lime juice. Limey, with the gin pulling through quite well, this was a pretty strange experience that we're not too unhappy with. Bitter with a light sweetness to it and strong kicks of lime, the gin fizz, it wasn't bad.
Service
The staff at Brizo Mirissa was quite nice. While some seemed a tad annoyed by us being there, the others were all smiles. Nonetheless, they were kind enough to bring our food when we asked for it and were in no way obtrusive.
Conclusion
Pictured Above: one of the aforementioned cuties.
The ambience at Brizo is great, the food (particularly the crab) was heavenly and the beach is, quite literally at your feet. Paired with a sunny day, you've got yourself in a Jonas Blue music video with really good food. Which is essentially what most of us look for when on vacation in Mirissa.
