This cosy 55-seater is everything you’d expect from a hidden bar. A misleading façade? Check. A password that changes daily? Double check. And once you do retrieve that password from the restaurant, called The Study, next door, you’ll be led into a disorienting, mirrored holding room that opens to a dim seating area around a steel-battered counter. It’ll take your eyes awhile to adjust before they can make out a headless mannequin by the corner, a bookshelf and lamps seemingly plucked from the Prohibition era on the counter.
Having opened only a couple of years ago, The Library has progressed from relying on the gimmick of exclusivity to enticing customers with consistently good cocktails and conversation. Bar manager Adam Eddy Bursik and his team are known for their bold presentation so don’t be surprised if your order – drinks are named after personalities such as Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol – comes with a pair of spectacle frames and a book for a coaster. When hungry, look forward to eat-with-your-hands items such as burgers, chips and doughnuts that come from The Study.