Purveyors of all things Louisiana - from soul food to jumpin' live music – Slap Ya Papa is bringing their red-lit New Orleans inspired world to the Victorian railway arches at The Vaults this September with a two week festival of events to launch The Vaults Kitchen, a brand new restaurant space at London Waterloo's subterranean hub of arts and culture.
With the Mississippi melting pot as its muse, The Bayou Banquet will give guests a taste of the heady, vibrant and culturally unique world of New Orleans. Featuring a spectrum of experiences, from immersive supper clubs, live music and Crescent City cocktail fuelled parties, to interactive art exhibitions and auctions, all-day Sunday brunches and even a hint of celebrity, with a run of cabaret audiences with Nola native and Mad Men star Bryan Batt.
Throughout the residency, the first in a rolling series of pop-up restaurant concepts at The Vaults Kitchen, Slap Ya Papa will team up with kindred culture collectives Marbles and Ware, Riot Jazz and Kansas Smitty to offer a programme of festivities to run throughout the day and late into the night, showcasing the best of a bubbling new wave of the most soulful Deep South food, art and live blues, jazz, funk and soul music in London.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Wednesday 16th, Thursday 17th & Thursday 24th September - Slap Ya Papa Supper Clubs (£30): Doors at 7pm & 9pm (two sittings)
Slap Ya Papa invites you to their trademark supperclub, where the best in London's live music talent is paired with a lip smackin' four course menu of Louisiana soul food, set within the brickwork arches of The Vaults.
Friday 18th September - Slap Ya Papa X Riot Jazz (£35): 1 dinner sitting at 8pm, doors for the party at 10pm Festival favourites and Manchester-bred upstarts Riot Jazz bring the music for Slap Ya Papa's supper club in the earlier part of Friday night, and then take the reins for the after-party that goes 'til 2am. Riot Jazz are making some very special waves; they've already curated Glastonbury's West Holts stage and are one of Manchester's best loved parties, counting funky luminaries like Mr. Scruff as regular attendees - their credentials are hard to beat!
Friday 25th September - Slap Ya Papa X Kansas Smitty (£35): 1 dinner at 8pm, doors for the party at 10pm
For the second Friday party night, Mardi Gras flag-boys Kansas Smitty provide the tunes during Slap Ya Papa's four course feast, then host the party proceedings with a combination of live music and jivin' Djs spinning vinyl until 2am. The Kansas Smitty House Band can be found popping up in hip and dangerous music joints all around town, including their own Julep bar on Broadway Market.
Slap Ya Papa X Marbles & Ware:
Art-world and festival-land firebrand Marbles & Ware are curating a complimentary exhibition in The Vaults Gallery, comprising of up and coming London based artists with the theme of Southern Wilds as their point of departure. The exhibition will be open to the public during the day throughout the residency and culminate in auctions of the work each Saturday night, whilst the Slap Ya Papa bar will offer a taster menu for lunchtime visitors.
Saturday 19th September & Saturday 25th September - Marbles & Ware Bizarre Bazaar (free entry): 10.30am – 5pm
From 10.30am - 5pm Marbles & Ware's Bizarre Bazaar will become an extension of the bustling Saturday market atmosphere of Waterloo's Lower Marsh, with artisan makers and crafters selling their creations and New Orleans Southern Belle market callers hollering the day's best bargains to be had. The public are invited in to explore the goods on sale, enjoy the theatrically immersive New Orleans bazaar setting created by the M&W collective, and indulge in soul food snacks from the Slap Ya Papa café space.
Saturday 19th September & Saturday 25th September - Marbles & Ware Bidders' Banquet (£40): 1 sitting at 8pm
Come evening-time, the market is cleared to make way for the Marbles & Ware X Slap Ya Papa Bidders' Banquet; as live music simmers under the buzzing hubbub of guests enjoying a 5 course feast, expect a dizzy bidding frenzy throughout the meal as Marbles & Wares's eccentric auctioneers tout latest works from the Next-Big-Things featured in their Southern Wilds exhibition. Come ready to raise a paddle, and a glass! The Bidders Banquet will then spill over with a New Orleans knees-up into the night with live bands and DJs performing shake-a-tail-feather sets beaming from the Bayou to Botswana!
Sunday 20th September & Sunday 26th September - Slap Ya Papa presents: Egg, Bacon, Grits...SAUSAGE (£20): 2 sittings at 12pm and 2.30pm
Slap Ya Papa presents an all day brunch to toast the weekend in style, with toe tappin' live music floating through the airways from Brixton bluesman and three-time UK harmonica champion Errol Linton alongside long time accomplice and guitar virtuoso Adam Blake, kick back and unwind with a Bayou Bloody Mary in hand.
Monday 21st – Wed 23rd September – The Bryan Batt Cabaret presents Tales from New Orleans (Mon/Tues - £25 [non-dining], Wed - £40 [includes four course dinner]): Doors at 8pm
Mad Men and 12 Years a Slave star Bryan Batt takes to the stage armed with a microphone and a piano to regale guests with stories and songs from his hometown of New Orleans, where he is famous not least for leading the Mardi Gras float parade. This raucously entertaining show is back by popular demand having first been performed to raise funds in the wake of hurricane Katrina, and features plenty of new adventures penned to Bryan's songbook. This is a unique chance to get a first-hand taste of the Treme as part of an intimate cabaret audience.
Find out more on the event website here.