“Oh, I wanna dance with somebody…” No scrap that; what I actually want is for everybody to sit and watch on admiringly as I warble my way through Whitney’s entire back catalogue. So, I suppose it’s pretty darn convenient that our team headed to Europe’s largest karaoke bar, BAM Karaoke, which opened just last month (April 2024) in Victoria.
BAM – which stands for Boîte à Musique (or music box) – is renowned in Paris for combining the chaos of private karaoke with chic Parisian style. This isn’t any old karaoke venue; this is a luxury karaoke venue. If M&S did karaoke venues, I’m pretty sure that this is what they’d come up with. It’s classy. It’s sophisticated. Well, at least it was – until they decided to open one in central London and the Secret London team tried it out.
What to expect at BAM Karaoke
At a whopping 10,000 square feet, BAM Karaoke is currently the largest karaoke venue in Europe. It boasts 22 private karaoke rooms – we sang our hearts out in The Polo Room, adorned with horseriding paraphernalia. The commitment to the theme was strong; from the wallpaper to the riding gear, it was pretty darn cool. Other rooms include The Peacock Room, embodying the grandeur of the peacock; The Scandalous Room, inspired by clandestine affairs of the era; and The Zebra Room, inspired by exotic animals of the era.
The private karaoke rooms are equipped with iPads – one to browse the 40,000+ songs available (!!!), the other to order food and drink – plus you can adapt the lighting in the room to whatever colour you like. Unlike the last time we did karaoke as a team, we headed into our room lungs first; we sang the likes of Sk8er Boi and Love The Way You Lie from the very beginning (yes, even before the drinks had begun to flow). We were pleasantly surprised by the breadth of the genres, as we went from Stormzy to the Legally Blonde soundtrack.
Aside from the songs, the room had a range of other cool features. Our team found the search function was quite intuitive, and there was vocal lead assistance and vocal effects to mask our terrible voices assist with holding the tune. We implemented #NMA (no mimes allowed), so these features were key. The room had a webcam we could activate to send us pics; though we captured enough video evidence on our own phones anyway.
The food and drink at BAM Karaoke
The BAM BAM bar, decked out with deconstructed chandeliers and sumptuous fabrics, is there to keep you refuelled and rehydrated in between rounds of belting out Angels by Robbie Williams, plus there’s a live music stage (for the professionals to show you how it’s supposed to be done).
The venue’s outdoor terrace is also the perfect place to cool off after going a little too hard during the Single Ladies routine – though we didn’t want to waste any singing time ourselves, so used our booth’s plush seating to catch a breath.
Consultant Culinary Director Sabrina Gidda serves a modern European menu with French influence. Think deviled eggs with caviar and chives, steak tartare croustade with dijonaise, and maldon cured salmon rillettes with pickled cucumbers and crostini. The bar provides signatures and classic cocktails, with a twist to keep you plenty fuelled for your musical renditions or any post-performance tipples.
We opted to dine and drink in our private karaoke booth. Let’s just say the drinks were much stronger than some of the notes we held. The margaritas and negronis led the charge for our group. As for the food, the selection was full of flavour and had a great bite to it. Special shoutouts go to the potato tots (soft and crispy at the same time), the posh cheese toastie, and the BAM fried chicken – this was my personal favourite – lightly spicy in a perfectly crisp coating.
As the alert to signify ’30 minutes left’ popped up on the screen, we were so disappointed that the session was ending that we added another hour! However, as the final call came the second time, we relieved the staff from hearing our not-so-dulcet tones, and left with our hearts full.
BAM Karaoke Box is open from Tuesdays to Saturdays and, thanks to their 1:30am licence, Londoners can belt it out late into the night. Find out more about BAM Karaoke Box London here.
Find BAM Karaoke Bar at 74 Victoria Street, SW1E 6SQ.