My friend bought the tickets – it seemed too good an offer to miss - a lovely meal at the edge of the City of London on a Saturday night with a live opera performance thrown in. I’d really enjoyed a recent visit to La Sarastro in Drury Lane so I looked forward to another night of dining and music.
We arrived at 7pm to find that all 50 places had been booked. The manager informed us that she had had to decline a further 15 who had wanted to come. We were given a glass of Prosecco and canapés and shown to our seats. Lovely.
Opera D’Amicici (two women and a chap) did one number and explained that they would return once we had eaten our starters. So we ordered a glass of wine and tucked into antipasto della casa – a selection including figs and Parma ham, crostini with tomatoes, pumpkin pancetta, peppers with pesto and Pecorino with truffle honey. Then the staff came out of the kitchen to watch with us while the singers sang some favourites from La Traviata, La Boheme, Rigoletto and Carmen. We all laughed as the singers interacted with the diners.
The main course of Ossobuco ai funghi arrived and it was delicious. We allowed ourselves another glass of wine. And after a short break, the singers returned to sing songs from Tosca. They also threw in some numbers from Les Miserables – which went down well with most people, although this music is not amongst my favourites.
The dessert (pannacotta alla gianduia) was sublime – the cool creaminess of the pannacotta perfectly matched with the chocolate sauce and toasted hazelnuts. While others ordered their coffees, we opted for the fresh mint tea.
Then the final set started with the Flower Duet from Lakme and Nessum dorma from Turandot before some popular Rogers and Hammerstein numbers. OK. I admit that I’m not a musicals fan. But they won top marks for a final rousing chorus of Volare as their encore.
It was a wonderful way to spend an evening and I hope that other Carluccios will get into the opera spirit and arrange similar evenings.
