Secret bars became fashionable in SP; know 10 options and learn how to find them

First, you ring the doorbell. A kind of opening reveals a pair of eyes and, behind the red door with gold details, a loud voice asks what the password for the night is. Anyone who doesn’t know the word of the time is left out. Who knows, you might enter a bar with a vintage decor and a soundtrack that navigates between jazz and rock dedicated to high-end cocktails.

Hidden in a discreet white house in the Jardins region, on the west side of São Paulo, this red door guards Exit, a bar that officially opened about a year ago. To enter, you have to make an advance reservation and wait for the password of the day to go, in a scheme that has become a discreet fashion in the capital of São Paulo: the secret houses, which are inspired by the speakeasy style.

That was the name of American secret bars in Prohibition times. Although there is no rule that restricts alcohol consumption in Brazil, there is a demand for what people like to call experience. Just as there are houses that appeal to instagrammable environments or fancy drinks, addresses wrapped in a certain air of mystery and exclusivity appear here and there and try to attract the public.

More than secret —after all, how to keep a secret in times of social networks?—, these houses have certain instruction manuals. There is a little bit of everything on the list of hidden addresses in the capital of São Paulo: an ultramodern salon inside a sixty-five-year-old address, a counter hidden behind a flower shop, a jazz club in the basement of a restaurant, drinks service under a traditional bar and so on. In common, there is the concern to offer good cocktails.

In this list are Inifini, which is inside La Casserole, Il Covo, SubAstor, Raiz, among others — see ten options below.

In the case of Exit, the letter is divided into authorial and classic recipes. Signed by award-winning bartender Márcio Silva, who was once at Guillotina, a bar considered one of the best in the world, the menu has drinks such as Je Suis Dark and She Is Tormenta, made with cognac, rum, amburana, spices and ginger and lemon extract. . It’s served with chocolate shavings and costs R$47. But there are also classic drinks, as per the rule.

One of the novelties in the city is The S. Since August in the Itália building, downtown, the house shares a floor with photographic exhibitions and the Circolo Italiano ballroom. To get to the bar, it is possible for the customer to bump into young women in long dresses and men in suits who dance masked to the sound of jazz. “It’s just that today is the day for a masquerade ball”, explains the building’s reception staff, who offer the prop for R$40 to those who arrived unprepared for the place.

To enter The S., it is enough to know that the house is there, since there is no indication in the corridors of the building, nor an address on social networks. With walls decorated with photos of singer Frank Sinatra, low lighting and leather-upholstered chairs, the space offers signature drinks such as It Had to Be You, made with gin infused with Sicilian lemon and juniper, Carpano Bianco, pomegranate syrup and clarified foam (R$ 48).

The food menu has a vintage feel, in the atmosphere of Sinatra and the corridors of the Italia building. There are recipes like the pastrami on a stick with Dijon mustard, buffalo mozzarella and cucumber pickles (R$42) and the gravlax salmon canapé (R$48).

Another discreet recent opening is Carrasco, which opened earlier this year. Access is via a velvet curtain at the back of the lounge of the always lively Guillotina, in Pinheiros. In contrast to its older brother, whose environment is marked by industrial-style decor and a livelier soundtrack, Carrasco is elegant and tiny, with only 12 seats.

As with the older brother, who signs the letter there is Spencer Amereno Jr. There are 21 recipes, between classics and authorials with a unique price of R$ 47, all made by bartender Cris Negreiros, who does not hesitate to suggest recipes to please the clientele’s palate. And, yes, the Carrasco and Guillotina cards are different.

Opened at the end of 2020 also in Pinheiros, Iscondido is another one of those addresses. To check out the DJs and signature drinks, you need to ask for the password via message on the Instagram profile. And it is there that the house defines itself with a motivational coach phrase, but which serves the entire movement of not-so-secret bars in the capital: it is for everyone, but not for everyone.

10 hidden bars in São Paulo

Executioner
At the Guillotine bar. R. Costa Carvalho, 84, Pinheiros, west region, Instagram @ocarrascobar

exit
Al. Lorena, 2104, Jardins, west region, Instagram @exitbarsp. Reservations and password at exitbarsp.com.br

Flora
R Padre João Manuel, 795, Jardins, west region, Instagram @florabar.sp

Il Covo
In the back of Zena Caffé. R. Peixoto Gomide, 1901, Jardins, West Region, Instagram @ilcovobar

infinite
At La Casserole restaurant. Largo do Arouche, 346, República, central region, Instagram @infini.bar

hidden
Secret address. Find out on Instagram @iscondido.bar

LoHi
At the Selina hotel. Av. Vieira de Carvalho, 99, República, central region, Instagram @lohi.sp

Source
At the Jacaranda restaurant. R. Alves Guimarães, 153, Pinheiros, west region, Instagram @raizclubsp

Sao Paulo Urban Distillery
At the Drosophyla bar. R. Nestor Pestana, 163, Consolação, central region, Instagram @saopaulourbandistillery

SubAstor
At Astor. R. Delfina, 163, Vila Madalena, West Region, Instagram @subastor

The S.
At the Circolo Italiano. Ed. Italy – Av. Ipiranga, 144, 1st floor, República, central region, Instagram @thes_bar