Coming to the riverside terrace at Somerset House on 08 May is Setlist, a brand-new bar and venue championing live music, DJs, art installations, and food from some of London’s most exciting female chefs. Launching during Somerset House’s milestone 25th birthday year, Setlist will be a platform for creators that represent the breadth of London’s cultural excellence across food, music, and art, all within a new bespoke structure offering views across the Thames.
Setlist will join Somerset House’s thriving resident creative community, sharing its ethos of innovation and a multi-disciplinary approach. The top team behind the project includes Thomas Kidd (Bar Elba and Luna Springs); James Dye (co-owner of Frank’s in Peckham and music-led wine bar Bambi); Paul Smyth (one half of the artists Something & Son and co-founder of Mission Kitchen and Makerversity, one of Somerset House’s long-standing creative residents); and Clement Ogbonnaya, pub trailblazer and founder of the Prince of Peckham and Queen of the South pubs.
THE FOOD
Setlist will bring four incredible female chefs together under one roof to create a unique menu of dishes that represent the best of London. There will also be regular pop-ups, guest chefs, and a BBQ series throughout the summer.
Opeoluwa Odutayo x The Future Plate – Rising star Opeoluwa is one of the core chefs of The Future Plate, the house of African and Caribbean cuisine and culture, who are residents of Somerset House. Her menu is inspired by growing up in Nigeria and includes plantain fritters with parmesan aioli; jerk chicken skewers with scotch bonnet mango chutney; and African spiced goat croquettes. Future Plate are also previewing My Chale, their new West African Wahala burger concept, including the Beef Wahala – aged beef patty, kaanne sauce, yassa onion, slow cooked beef brisket, suya mayo – and Chicken Wahala, suya buttermilk chicken, scotch bonnet chimichurri, bell pepper relish, caramelised onion, and curry mayo.
Sophie Wyburd x Wildfarmed – Sophie Wyburd is a cook and author whose latest book Tucking In is all about simple, hearty comfort food. Sophie will team up with Wildfarmed, producers of the UK’s first and only regeneratively farmed flour, to create a menu of pizzette such as the Saucisson, topped with sausage, potato, caramelised onion, rosemary and taleggio, and the Aubergine, topped with smoked aubergine, mozzarella, fermented chilli and tomato sauce, and hot honey. Sophie will also offer snacks like smoked cheese beignets, and slow roast tomatoes with walnut cream and tarragon gremolata.
Andrea Montes Renaud and Laura Copp are the duo behind Masafina, who create incredible heirloom corn tortillas and salsas made using ingredients sourced directly from small, regenerative farms in Mexico. Their Setlist menu includes a baja fish taco with Mexican chilli and lime slaw, burnt garlic and habanero mayo; mushroom tostada with salsa macha chilli oil, sun dried tomatoes, guac, and feta; and Mexico City nachos, topped with salsa verde, salsa roja, melted cheese, and pulled chicken.
Terri Mercieca is an award-winning pastry chef and founder of Happy Endings who will serve a rotating selection of soft serve and sorberts, plus collaborate with each chef for a signature ice cream sundae available exclusively at Setlist.
THE MUSIC
Clement Ogbonnaya will be curating an incredible programme of live music, DJs and events each week, with highlights including crowd favourite Vibe Village, the most in-demand collective of vocalists and instrumentalists, having played support to some of the world’s leading talents including Dua Lipa, Kylie Minogue and Mary J Blige. Guests can also expect evenings curated by Cultur FM, Dankie Sounds, and South London trailblazers Cloud X amongst many others. DJ sets include Pxssy Palace founder Skyler Myler, Mark Ashley, Donny Sunshine and Mercedes Benson.
THE ART
Set against the beautiful backdrop of Somerset House and overlooking the iconic Thames skyline, the heart of Setlist will be a striking new 50m-long covered pavilion that has been designed to provide a blank canvas to present emerging visual artists from London. This new space will provide a canvas for an annual artwork commission which will become one of the largest public painted artwork commissions in London, promoting emerging and early career artists, and bringing their work to central London audiences.
The inaugural commission will be a large painted installation by Brixton-based artist Farouk Agoro, whose work uses markings as a visual language to explore space, rhythm, and emotion. Central to his practice is a distinctive zigzag pattern, repeated, deconstructed, and reimagined, like a personal theme song that maps movement through time. Farouk has previously created high profile public artworks such as the Brixton Bridge and this commission at Setlist presents an opportunity to combine his personal painting style and his public art practice into a single public artwork for the first time.
Inspired by sculpture gardens across the world, Setlist will also curate a series of interactive artworks and games across the year, in partnership with Somerset House. First up is an interactive basketball-inspired installation by Gray Wielebinski, following on from a recent breakout solo show at the ICA. Gray is a London based, Dallas-born artist whose practice is interested in the role that power plays in historical and contemporary forms of myth-making and narratives, and how this intrinsic power dynamic affects how we conceive of ourselves, others, and the world around us. Gray is a resident of Somerset House Studios.
THE BAR
At the bar, Setlist will offer local London beers, wines, and a perfect line up of summer cocktails. There’s classic, spicy and mezcal margaritas; frozen mango, hibiscus, and blood orange margaritas; spritzes like the Somerset Spritz – Lilet Blanc, Suze, Somerset Cider – and the Setlist Spritz, Lillet Rose, Raspberries, Double Dutch, Pomegranate and Basil; and classics negronis, Pimm’s Cup, and Clem’s Rum Punch.
Setlist will also offer London’s biggest non-alc menu with a huge line up of alcohol-free cocktails, 0% beers, and wines.