The spirit that Samantha Evert celebrates in her Hood Wars argument for Chinatown is attracting all kinds of multicultural, quirky and independent businesses to Somerset, making it t a fantastic area to play in these days. Adding to the growing love for my ‘hood is the fact that we now have VIP Karaoke.
Full disclosure: calling me a karaoke “fanatic” is an understatement. I got engaged at the Big Echo in Tokyo and spent hours at the Fantacity Karaoke in Vancouver when I lived there. Considering my pre-Ottawa karaoke history, there has been a huge hole in my soul due to a lack of Asian-style karaoke box establishments in my Chinatown neighbourhood.
Until now.
The Place
Like other Chinatown business owners, Kang Hun Cho, who also owns the Umi Cafe, had a dream. When he bought the building, also home to Umi and The Korean Palace a few years ago, the upstairs was empty, but he always knew that one day he would open up a Korean style karaoke box.
In keeping with the Chinatown DIY ethic, the entire interior was designed and created by Kang to ensure its authenticity. He even imported the wallpaper from Korea.
The Equipment
I was super jazzed when Kang showed me the karaoke machines. VIP Karaoke has two types: one that plays Korean/Vietnamese/Japanese/English songs and the other type with Chinese songs. All work with wireless mics. The systems provide some snazzy advanced options including recording your music to USB, the ability to bring your own music and one of my favourite things: the ability to change the key of the music for male or female voices.
The Price
What does all this magic cost you ask? A quite reasonable flat fee of $30 an hour. They have smaller rooms that fit 4-6 people and larger rooms for groups of up to 20. Kang has future plans to provide bar-type snack food and he is eagerly awaiting their liquor license which should be in place soon. If you enjoy dinner at The Korean Palace you can pop upstairs for a couple of hours of VIP Karaoke for the price of only one hour.
The Hours
VIP Karaoke is open 7 days a week. Mon – Fri from 3 p.m. – 3 a.m., Sat/Sun from 1 p.m. – 3 a.m. Looking for something fun to do with the kids on a rainy weekend? VIP is family-friendly on Saturday and Sunday afternoons between 1 and 6 p.m
There are some great bars that offer karaoke nights in Ottawa, and Apartment 613 did a great review of them in a previous post. But this came out before VIP Karaoke was around. While the Shanghai is a great Saturday night out, for me, there is something special about having your own private stage. A place where you can escape and close your eyes whilst belting out “Careless Whisper” or “Barbie Girl” without a worry. Having now gone twice I will definitely be back.
VIP Karaoke is located at 610 Somerset St., Ottawa, 613-680-8847
