This Saturday sees the next outing for Bacanal, an event built around the not-so-well-worn ingredients of food, cabaret and a decent dose of hardcore clubbing.
While the combination of food and cabaret for this event are familiar to devotees of supperclubs like Notting Hill's Supperclub or East London's Brickhouse, there are two particular twists to Bacanal that warrant attention and attendance. The first is the the aforementioned clubbing, the quality of which would not be out of place in high season Ibiza, despite actually being in Belgravia. The second is that the event starts in the middle of the day with a chucking out time of around 7pm, just in time for evening frolics or - in our case - slinking off home for a lie-down.
The food itself is a pleasant affair - three well-executed dishes with veggie options that are filling without leaving you with a carb OD. The real fun starts with what one organiser (Diego, an Argentinean ex-City banker) calls "the transition". Its a small phrase with a big impact: one minute, we're scarfing down the dessert while chatting with our neighbours, the next we were in a darkened room at eye-level with the very bendy Iona Luvsandorj while the fire dancers and stilt walkers of Girls Roc wander by. As well as the impromptu circus, we're treated to the Australian electric violinist Jane Cho who applies an overdue roundhouse kick to the head of modern classical music.
The platinum-plated cherry on this event's cake is undoubtably the teutonic techno-tsunami unleashed by DJ Klaus and live percussionist Ameet Jugnauth. Over three non-stop hours, the pair bring the house down with some fearsomely loud thumpa-thumpa tunes. The tables are cleared and most flat surfaces are up for grabs as the crowd come together for some serious hoofing.
We walked out thinking that brunch clubbing is a great idea on at least two counts. The first is that, being held in the afternoon, we had far more energy than if we were going to a club at weekday-bedtime o'clock. The second is that the journey home did not mean (for once) the usual ritual of waiting for and being jammed onto a night bus. Talk about win-win.
Bacanal's next outing will be a 20s themed event this Saturday, again at Il Botaccio. Tickets are £40 and more information can be garnered here.
If you're looking for an alternative brunch clubbing experience, we can also recommend LoveBrunch. Keeping to a similar formula of food, cabaret and club tunes, they recently celebrated their second birthday with an event at the Sanderson Hotel.
LoveBrunch will be returning to Supperclub on Dec 17 for an event in conjunction with the Austrian alpine rock festival Snowbombing. You can see more news on that here.