Proud Cabaret Camden

Was dragged in here as a surprise without any clue about what it was and without any expectations whatsoever. The dancers ranged from mundane to sultry, with the overall look and feel of the show really being great. The staff was friendly and once the dancers packed it in, a DJ kept the groove going with a heady mix of old school R&B, hip-​hop and electronica. Not cheap by any stretch, but why should it be? It’s a burlesque show and cheap is not necessarily good in that context. A great experience all around.

From the sounds of it, my night at Proud Cabaret in Camden was more organised and together than the experiences of other Unilocalers and online reviews. This is due to the fact that the evening I went, Alex Proud, the owner was there celebrating his birthday.
The food and drinks were great. I had the pork belly, which was tasty and a coconut daiquiri thing. The food arrived without much delay, along with our drinks. It was the first night of a new menu apparently, but I had read that was the menu from previous online reviews so I’m not sure if it was 100% new.
The show was great, very entertaining and interactive with the audience. (Our audience was very comatosed, very hard to get going, but our host Joe did well to get everyone participating.)
Each table has a phone and is encouraged to connect with other tables. It’s a very interesting concept that seems to be hit or miss depending on the people at the phones. :)
The only issue that we had was trying to get the bill. We asked for it before the show ended as we were trying to make a quick exit as the show went well past 11pm and we were trying to get home via public transport as we worked the next morning. Well, we asked both of our servers who said «yep, no problem, I’ll be right back,» right before they hopped up on the bar to do the Time Warp, and then they stayed up there. We had to continually ask numerous people before we got the bill. It took us about 30 minutes to get the bill, and then after complaining and making a point of not paying the service charge because we were so tired and fed up of chasing people (most people had left by this point), I finally got my change back with many apologies.
That was my only issue. Other than that, its another legitimate reason to dress up for a 1920s themed cabaret night in London (although the staff don’t dress up for 1920s)! It was a great night out!

–saw a burlesque show at Proud recently. It was more of a B-​OK. (I just can’t give it an ‘A’.)
The Proud Folk seemed to have been ironing out the acts still, or new performers are constantly being blended in, so what I saw was a hodge-​podge of strip-​tease, comedy/​dance, and contortion.
One of the dancers, bless her, was energetic and smiling, but had a bit of ‘cheerleader’ to her moves, so I had a bit of an ‘oh my god, does her mother know what she’s doing right now?’ moment watching her. The other was gorgeous with lovely costumes and wore so much stage make-​up that she almost looked to be made of wax. My cohorts kept talking about whether or not she was a female which I found off-​putting. The contortionist performed in a pair of jeans sans top. Could he not have found some sort of costume-​y pair of trousers to wear? He seemed a bit too pedestrian for the vibe of the room.
The interval music was folk: one guy and his guitar. I feel that he would have fit in a bit better at a coffee bar in some uni-​town and not in the heart of what was supposed to be a bit of ‘ooh-​la-​la!’ Moulin Rouge it wasn’t.
The food, however, when it arrived, was the crowning jewel. Pork belly with a smattering of scratchings was the starter. Beef and mushroom over an herbed mash was the main. I was sated and didn’t order dessert.
Our waitress had what appeared to be just about half of the place as her section, and, with little support, was meant to bring out each course between performances (and various drinks) in a timely fashion. It wasn’t working really well. Some smarmy ‘hey guys!’ expediter with an ear plug filled in the gaps as needed.
Oh, and one of the speakers was almost directly over our table and was blaring. My ears hurt.

As you’re reading this, you’ve probably exhausted all options of entertainment that the Big Smoke has to offer, and regrettably believe that staying in the new going out and even Time Out’s ambition to make you think otherwise has become trivial. You’ve probably turned a blind eye to their Cabaret section, and wrongly so. Cabaret is where it’s at, precisely and currently at North London hip venue, Proud Cabaret Camden.
There you will find your perfect night of decadence and hedonism, be it to mourn the end of your celibacy, to host a birthday party, or just for the sheer fun of it.
Burlesque is what we do best, claims the fearlessly raunchy compere, Vicious Delicious, before introducing a four– folded act of teasing eye-​candy artistes, suggestively flaunting their curves to an eclectic soundtrack spanning James Bond themes and vintage 80s pop with the likes of Shirley Bassey, Nina Simone, Madonna and even the awesome Velvet Underground.
These showgirls, who all qualify for a bit part in the next Sin City’s cast, cater to anyone and everyone’s aesthetic tastes, from luscious brunettes Betsy Rose and Annette Bette to the Marylin-​esque blonde bombshell Banbury Cross, via black beauty Coco Deville to the latex-​clad Marnie Scarlet Name it, it’s on show.
Expect pouts and stricken poses galore to the delight of the gents and the envy of the ladies, who no matter where they stand will be given no other choice than to let themselves get entertained. And prepare yourself to be drooling from anything but hunger as to accompany this cheeky revue, Proud Camden has called onto the expertise of South American chef Edwin Mendoza (here’s me having a dig at a press release but in all honestly this was by far the best fillet steak I had in my ten years in London Town!), who has devised a palate-​tickling menu including treats such as beef bresaola with truffle mayonnaise and aged parmesan, and baked seabass fillet with sauté carrot and fennel on a coriander and red onion salad, among other delicious dishes, to be savoured with a large selection of vino, beers and cocktails a la carte.
All this in the revamped décor of the venue’s South gallery.
To Proud you go– disappointment is out of the equation. Standard Prices:
£39 for 3 courses full price Wednesday & Thursday 33% off standard price (£26) 3 courses
Friday 1^st sitting £19.50 2 courses
Friday 2^nd sitting £39 3 courses
Saturday 1^st sitting £26 2 courses
Saturday 2^nd sitting £39 3 courses In house offers:
Bad Sex Thursday students get 50% off full price dinner with a valid NUS card. All night packages:
Friday night a premium of £50 to keep the table until 2am
Saturday night a premium of £75 to keep the table until 2am Getting a table as of 2am:
£100 for a booth and queue jump, still paying the entry fee of £10 per head but with the ability of pre-​ordering from the pre-​order menu 3^rd Party Offers: View Card:
25% off rate card price Thursday /​Friday /​Saturday Gourmet Society
50% off on Thurs-​Sat

And so I shall continue on with my love of Proud.
Last month I ventured to (and ended up loving) Proud Cabaret. Little did I know, that over at everyone’s favourite Camden venue, something rather similar, but ultimately more my cup-​of-​tea, was going on in the South Gallery.
On a much smaller scale, and in a much more laid back quirky atmosphere, two sexy as hell burlesque dancers and one incredible (gush!) harpist took to the stage to both serenade and hilariousley tease us as we made merry.
The food was fine, though I don’t think it’s the main attraction, simple, good portions, and quite tasty, but the main thing here is definitely entertainment & atmosphere. Mixed crowd, all ready to start their night out in a new and exciting way.

Went here with a few friends the other evening and found Proud Kitchen to be a perfect place to go, anytime of day. Its addition to the gallery/​venue/​bar means that there’s now a trendy and comfortable place to sit down and eat before watching a band or hanging out in the stables. We sat down to a great 3 course meal which was actually really reasonable for the quality. A really good place to head if you’re in Camden and if you don’t usually head up that way, it’s definitely worth the trip. Highly recommend.

My experience of Proud Kitchen Camden was much like suze769’s review below. Proud Kitchen should be Ashamed Kitchen and get their act together! Our waiter did the best he could but the place was total chaos.
We also went because we had GroupOn vouchers and were looking forward to a good evening. Issues:
1. Arrival: The reservation sheet listed only my surname, so as they couldn’t find my name initially, it took about 5 minutes to sort and get seated.
2. Drinks: Similar to suze: Ordered 2 glasses of Sauvignon Blanc. Took ages to arrive as apparently no chilled bottles were availabe, and the woman who took our order was looking around for some. No one bothered to tell us this until we asked the waiter to chase it up. He arrived back with 2 warm glasses of wine and a glass of ice. What? The wine wasn’t very good either, too acidic, no fruity taste whatsoever.
3. Food: My beetroot salad starter was good, but the mains took over 1 hour to arrive (from when we ordered). Other people seated at our table experienced the same or longer delay — the couple next to us had been waiting 1.5 hours. The risotto tasted good but was very runny, a greenish slimy mess.
4. Dessert: Brownie ice cream was tasty, but we only got it after I waved furiously at the waitress carrying them to get her attention, as she went to the wrong table. I could see the people she was trying to serve shaking their heads, and had to wave, shout, and then bang on the table to get the waitress’ attention. It was like a comedy skit, but not very funny in reality.
I am giving this place 2 stars instead of 1 as I think there is good potential here if management improves the food and service, but would absolutely NOT recommended going there at present.