A popular 'mini-festival' returned to the North East on Friday, with visitors enjoying an evening of music, food and comedy produced by talented locals.
The Caper pop-up event has previously been held at the Grainger Market in Newcastle. But the latest event took place at the Baltic on Gateshead's Quayside, overlooking the city's iconic bridges and River Tyne.
The event is organised by a local family-run business, which has a passion for showcasing and finding new audiences for the incredible local talent in the region, including chefs, young entrepreneurs, bands, artists, or comedians. And last night was no different, with four chefs serving up delicious dishes while guests enjoyed live music from five local artists and stand-up comedy from four North East acts.
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There was also a range of artisan stalls for visitors to browse, selling a range of handmade jewellery, candles, vases, vintage items and more.
David Kennedy, the newly appointed Chairman's Suite chef at Newcastle United, and former NE Chef of The Year John Connell were both joined by Yasmin, of Layla's Kitchen, in Jesmond, and Billy Thomas from Greekster to produce a variety of tasty food.
David is well-known for his for his trademark, full flavour traditional British dishes, and was on hand to offer super decadent sweet treats. While John delivered Asian fusion dishes such as Maguro Yukke with fresh tuna as well marinated grilled beef Bulgogi.
Yasmin cooked up Middle Eastern vegan and vegetarian dishes complete with stuffed bell peppers and tabbouleh salad, while Billy will serve up pork skewers and homemade tzatziki. And visitors were able to wash down all that food with their drink of choice from one of the five bars at the event, including cocktails served at The Caper's newly formed "Chill Out Zone".
Sisi, Cortney Dixon and her band and Moon Wax all played music in the Front Room bar overlooking the Tyne. And in the Baltic Kitchen, there was comedy from Catherine Young and Mike Milligan, Sasha Lo and Howka Charvaz.
There was also music provided by DJ BeauJack, salsa dance lessons with Brazilian Andrew Viana and live art from Alfie Joey.
Speaking ahead of the event, Cortney Dixon told ChronicleLive: "I'm so looking forward to my first Caper! You can expect upbeat, fun tunes with guitar riffs and catchy melodies so you can sing along in no time.
"It’s great that The Caper is bringing together lots of different genres of local music as well as championing local food and comedy."
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