Volupté is a world that’s been dreamed up by two girls then forcibly crammed inside a two-floor bar/restaurant in the heart of London. You may call these girls Kuki La-Belle and Delores von Cotier (not their real names of course, but they don’t much care about that. Neither should you. If you do, then you might find Volupte a little unsettling (although there’s nothing a wink and a cocktail won’t cure). If, however, you don’t, then maybe you’re a bit like Kuki and Dee, who aren’t all that interested in reality. Especially when it means waking up in the morning when it’s still dark, and getting squashed on the tube. Says author and friend Jane Bowyer, ‘I feel like I’m in a human crumble.’ Kuki and Dee would hereby publically like to extend such dislike to other things. Grey skies. Rude people in the street. Misery. Poverty. Political warfare. Not having enough time to do one’s nails or smoke a damn cigar. Oh, the unfairness of it life can sometimes be quite jarring.
So, what’s a girl (or guy? to do? Or more to the point, where are they to go? This place had to be pretty special, the girls concluded – somewhere utterly beautiful, a place where you could get mouth-watering cocktails infused with real fruit; delicious, organic food, rich cream cakes, real clotted cream and nice cups of tea whatever time you wanted. Then there’d be entertainment: jazz bands, rock bands, musicians and cabaret singers sashaying round the tables…as well as 1920s flapper dancers, comedy, table magicians and Burlesque and Vaudeville extravaganzas – everything from cheesecake to slightly more Victorian gothica...
Volupté is a world of pleasure, exquisite delight, and sharing. Of decadence, richness, indulgence and extremities. A world where you are cordially invited to spoil yourself, to preen yourself, to love and be loved.
Anything goes, as Kuki and Dee like to say.
(Although please do be warned. You won't want to leave).
