Hakuna Matataaaa! What a wonderful phrase! And it’s one that
I haven’t been able to stop singing since I went to see The Lion King on stage
at the Sunderland Empire on Thursday night. It’s a show I’ve wanted to see for
years, so I couldn’t believe my luck when my Mam bought tickets for us and my
Dad a few weeks ago. We thought we’d make a night of it, so headed into town
for some food before the show. We’d heard a lot of good reviews about D’acqua
on John Street so decided to try it. And the reviews certainly weren’t
wrong!
The restaurant is underground, and has a purple colour
scheme throughout its décor along with various interesting lighting instalments.
When we arrived we were greeted warmly by the staff and had a drink at the bar
before going to our table. My photos make the place look empty, as there wasn’t
many people in when we arrived at 5.30pm, but it soon filled up due to its
obvious popularity. A cute set up of bread buns awaited us at our table on a
piece of slate- just the beginning of the interestingly presented food.
I had
the goat’s cheese salad to start, followed by the chicken sizzler and the D’acqua
cheesecake- all of which were amazing. I couldn’t resist getting a snap of my
Mam’s dessert just because of the way it was presented- a little jar of
blackberries with an interesting bowl of lemon and white chocolate posset (not
quite sure what that is but it tasted delicious) and a blueberry shortbread. As
we chose from the early bird menu, our three course meals only came to £13
each- bargain! We all agreed afterwards that this definitely wouldn’t be our
last visit, and that it may become our new favourite eatery.
Due to enjoying our meal a little bit too much we had to do
a mad dash across town to the Empire, getting in to our seats in the nick of
time. I had been so excited for the show that I was quite nervous that it
wouldn’t live up to my expectations- but my expectations were fully surpassed. From
the curtain going up at the start to the end-of-show bows from the cast I was
overwhelmed by how spectacular this production was. The costumes were brilliantly
vibrant, the staging a stroke of genius and the cast were flawless in both
their singing and acting performances. I even shed a tear a couple of times as
it was so emotional! It’s a show that I would recommend to anyone, and one
that I hope I am lucky enough to see again.
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