Getting intoxicated is not a crime you have to conceal anymore, but finding an exclusive, hidden bar you can only get into if you adhere to some pretty strict rules remains as challenging as ever. Imagine that after New York, London and Barcelona, Budapest may also have a speakeasy where only those in possession of a special key can gain admission. You have to enter a neighboring store first, and then step into a dim room where skilled bartenders mix modern versions of the cocktails made back in the day at the Parisian Ritz or London’s Savoy. Could such a place really exist?
Speakeasy is a mystical genre: a clandestine watering hole awaiting those who can be quiet and discreet about the location, be it through a hairdresser’s or a fur shop that they enter the gin bottle-lined saloon with bar singers crooning in a husky voice on stage. We’ve all seen this iconic, smoke-filled world in gangster movies many times before: Al Capone putting his Templeton Rye firmly on the heavy mahogany table, slender showgirls with pearls around their neck sipping French 75s and the like.
Gatsby was the last one we saw lifting art deco glasses at a bar shrouded in such mystery.
How fine would it be to go back in time and trade vodka-soda and bland fröccs for something more elegant: a gin-based drink with sparkling wine perhaps, a spicy whiskey sour or a smoky and aromatic old fashioned cocktail. To let the expectation build as you wait for the special occasion allowing you to ditch the same old setup: Saturday night at the usual pub with the same people as always, and the familiar sight of mint leaves shriveled up in your mojito. A secret lair where everything and everyone can be new. And the really cool thing is that you have to get your hands on a particular key to be allowed in.
It would be so special… Even more so if we embraced the times past, and gave up our most precious modern gadget for the night, which gives us freedom and headaches in equal measure. No phone tonight… There’s no need to be available, to read e-mails, to post where we are. All we’d have to do is watch the bartender, enjoy the flavors, and listen to the music and each other. Moments like these are scarce, but if you could get into an underground place that’s so exceptional, it would be a shame to miss out on the fun because of such trivial things.If only modern-day Budapest had a bar like that. Well, it does actually, and you never know, it might just be on the other side of your wall.
