Newcastle United won at St James’ Park for the first time in months by beating Brighton 3-1 on Saturday
Newcastle defender Malick Thiaw at Fuochi(Image: Instagram/Fuochi)
There was both delight and sheer relief inside St James’ Park on Saturday when Newcastle United but an end to their torrid run on home soil by beating Brighton. And United defender Malick Thiaw celebrated the 3-1 win at a local Italian described as an ‘absolute gem’ of a restaurant.
Eddie Howe’s men concerning run of form, which had seen them beaten at St James’ by the likes of Brentford and bitter rivals Sunderland, had seen them drop as low as 15th in the Premier League table and, while relegation was never really on the cards for the Magpies, it certainly left them looking over the shoulders in a rather precarious position. Thankfully, after turning in an improved performance against title chasing Arsenal a week earlier, Newcastle got off to a great start against in form Brighton, being 2-0 up at half time, thanks to goals from Will Osula and Dan Burn.
After defender Dan headed in to score against his old club, Brighton pulled one back, with ex NUFC man Yankuba Minteh then missing a golden chance to make it 2-2, before Harvey Barnes made sure of the three points with a great finish. The much needed win left United in 13th in the table after all the weekends games, just two points behind Sunderland.
And, centre half Malick, signed from AC Milan last summer celebrated by tucking into some hearty food at Fuochi Pizza Experience on Westgate Road, the restaurant with a near perfect 4.8/5 score of Google, thanks to an abundance of glowing reviews. Sharing a photo of Malick inside the restaurant, Fuochi took to social media to write: ‘A pleasure welcoming @malick.laye to Fuochi today. Great food, great company and a fantastic visit from the Newcastle United defender.’ The post ended with the words: ‘Grazie della visita, torna presto!’ which, when translated to English is ‘Thanks for visiting, come back soon.’
Malick’s visit came at the end of a busy week for the owners of Fuochi, which saw them open their stunning new Italian restaurant Ai Fiori in Sandyford. Ai Fiori means ‘among the flowers’ and the decor of the new venue definitely reflects that, with the aesthetic and menu giving serious holiday vibes on a weekend when temperatures climbed to the dizzy heights of 23 degrees in Newcastle.
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Dining and Cooking