Last Thursday saw me combine two great loves – great food and theatre – at the very classy Opera Night at Rosso Restaurant in Manchester. I’ve wanted to try out Rosso’s Italian cuisine for a while, and a night of opera accompanied by a five course meal was an amazing opportunity to do so. The tickets (at £60) were only slightly more than I pay for a decent theatre ticket, and the event was well worth it. I dressed in a classy black dress and wore my hair up, as the dress code was black tie, and was greeted at the door by a glass of champagne and canapes. This set the standard for what was a lovely and sophisticated evening.
The Grade II building at the top of King Street seemed as though it had been designed for an Opera night, with beautiful domed ceilings which surely must have created fantastic accoustics! The group Solo Voci (featuring the talented Soprano Soraya Mafi and Mezzo-Soprano Charlotte Pearson) provided the musical entertainment, along with their guest singer Daniel Shelvey (definately one to watch!), in the form of three sets of classical opera and musical theatre pieces (Carmen, The Marriage of Figaro, West Side Story and The Phantom of the Opera to name a few). Their inclusion of a rogue lesser known song from Spamalot (one of my newest favourites you may recall) only added to my enjoyment! I have nothing but praise for all three of these singers, and hope to see them perform again in the future.
As for Rosso, the service we received was wonderful, and the menu and quality of the food fantastic. The dessert one of the best I have tasted in a restaurant! Full details are below. Overall, an evening I would definately recommend!
Menu:
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Ribbons of the finest prosciutto set with fresh mozzarella scented with lemon and basil
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Homemade strawberry and black pepper ravioli tossed with mixed summer berries
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Rack of lamb in a herb crust set with a mint and caper jus, panache of green vegetables and croquette potatoes
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Chilled iced nougat mousse with nut brittle and toffee sauce
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Coffee and biscotti
English Rose from Manchester's Blog 
Hi, it sounds like you had a good night. That’s a great deal: a night of opera accompanied by a five course meal for £60. Where did you find out about it?
I follow Rosso on Twitter (@RossoRestaurant) and heard about it on there! I see a lot of Manchester-based events on Twitter and notice your blog is about Manchester too. If you’re interested, I follow quite a few good people for this sort of thing (I’m @EnglishRoseManc).
If Rosso run the night again, I would definately recommend it!
Thanks, I’ll look out for it. I haven’t tried Rosso yet but it sounds good. I didn’t know it had won Manchester Restaurant of the Year – I wouldn’t mind an excuse to try it out. You may have noticed I’m now following you on twitter 🙂 (I’m @SammyDeeMM). Thanks again.
So glad to see you enjoyed the Rosso Opera Night. A few surprises for the next Opera Night planned on the 8th of September ! Heres a link to the new flyer http://yfrog.com/kjxkfbjj . Hope to see you there