Jazz saxophonist and entrepreneur YolanDa Brown is to open her restaurant and music venue Soul Mama in Stratford this September. Originally slated for Islington, Soul Mama is set in the Gantry hotel, opposite Westfield, and will offer a menu inspired by Caribbean, African and South American cooking.

The project is funded by a Kickstarter campaign that raised £248,000 in eight weeks last year – the largest sum for a restaurant anywhere in the world. It was launched by YolanDa in partnership with her manager Adetokunbo ‘T’ Oyelola (pictured), music mogul and founder of Black Grape Global.

The kitchen will be run by Jamaican-born chef Aleandro Brown, who has a high-end background working at the Ritz and the Savoy, and spent five years with Gordon Brown. He says: “There’s going to be a lot of beautiful flavours – African fusion, Caribbean, South American – it’s going to be crazy!”

The venue will showcase a wide range of music, including jazz, soul, reggae and gospel, along with talks, poetry readings and other events. Tickets are on sale to the first gigs, starting with Omar on Friday 6 September, with YolanDa Brown set for a three-night run from Friday 11 October. It is also open for one-off events this summer.