The Best Underground Bars Worldwide

Down a narrow staircase from Orchard Street, Attaboy operates without a cocktail menu — you tell the bartender what spirit you prefer, your mood, sweet vs sour, spirit-forward vs citrus-driven, and they build something to order. The bar seats 25. The walls are bare brick. The whole operation runs on trust between the bartender and the guest, and it works because the team is good enough for the concept to hold up on a Friday night at full capacity. No reservations. Arrive before 10pm or wait outside.

Order: Tell the bartender: rye whiskey, something stirred, not sweet. Wait to be surprised.

The main room is a narrow corridor of a bar on Rivington Street. The back bar, accessible through a wardrobe, is where the more interesting drinking happens. Callooh Callay has been one of London's most creative cocktail operations for over a decade, and the underground extension adds the right amount of theatre without letting the concept swallow the quality. The seasonal cocktail menu changes quarterly and always contains at least three drinks that are worth ordering on their own terms.

Order: Whatever the bartender recommends from the current seasonal menu

One floor below Shinjuku street level, Bar Benfiddich is run by a single bartender who grows his own herbs, forages seasonal botanicals, and distils his own spirits using pot stills behind the bar. The space holds 9 people. The cocktail list is written by hand on a chalkboard that changes weekly. This is the most serious small bar in Tokyo, which makes it one of the most serious small bars anywhere. Book weeks ahead and arrive knowing what you want to drink, or at least what flavours interest you.

Order: The house-distilled botanical spirit, served neat with one ice sphere

Beneath the 14th-century stone of Old Town Prague, Hemingway Bar operates in a space that most bars would let the history do the work in. They do not. The cocktail programme is among the best in Central Europe, built around a collection of 200 antique spirits and an approach to pre-Prohibition classics that is genuinely scholarly without being tedious. The absinthe selection alone is worth the trip. Dress appropriately: the bar has a firm dress code and enforces it.

Order: A proper absinthe service from the antique collection, or the house Daiquiri No. 4

Access is through a functioning laundromat on Rue Notre-Dame de Nazareth. Push the right washing machine. Descend into a low-ceilinged bar that feels like someone converted their own house and decided not to tell most people about it. Lavomatic is the best example in Paris of a bar that earns its reputation through the quality of the drinks rather than the hook of the entrance. The cocktail list is short, seasonal, and built around French spirits and local producers. The crowd skews neighbourhood and late.

Order: Whatever uses Calvados or Armagnac from the current menu

Since 1929, El Xampanyet has operated from a subterranean space in El Born that has changed almost nothing in the intervening decades. The house cava is poured from unlabelled bottles behind the bar. The anchovies come from a tin. The walls are lined with ceramic tiles and antique wine jugs. This is not a cocktail bar. It is a cava bar, and arguably the best one in Barcelona — a city that knows what a cava bar should feel like and has a high tolerance for ones that do not deliver.

Order: House cava poured at bar temperature, accompanied by a tin of anchovies and a plate of jambon

Below a nondescript storefront in Wicker Park, The Violet Hour has been one of the most influential cocktail bars in Chicago since it opened. The room is long, low-ceilinged, and upholstered in ways that absorb both light and conversation. The cocktail programme focuses on precise, well-sourced ingredients and a rotating seasonal menu that has introduced at least a dozen techniques to the Chicago bar scene since 2007. The no-phone policy is enforced, which makes the room feel significantly better than it would otherwise.

Order: The Paper Plane or any seasonal cocktail from the current rotating menu

Below the acclaimed restaurant on Dundas West, Bar Isabel's subterranean extension focuses on natural wine, Iberian spirits, and small plates that are better than most of what passes for bar food in Toronto. The room is stone-floored and brick-walled with seating for 30. The wine list has more interesting Portuguese bottles than any other bar in Canada. Late-night Thursday and Friday sees the kitchen staying open until 1am, which is the configuration to book for.

Order: Aged Madeira or a glass from the current Portuguese natural wine selection

The main bar at Employees Only is at street level. The back room, which opens onto the kitchen pass and the downstairs wine cellar, is the version of the bar worth knowing about. The cocktail programme is built on classic technique executed without compromise: the Mata Hari, the Provençal, and the Billionaire Cocktail have been on the menu for 20 years because they are genuinely good. The kitchen stays open until 3:30am, making this the most practical option on this list for a late night that extends past midnight.

Order: Billionaire Cocktail — bourbon, absinthe, lemon, simple syrup, Angostura

Below a terrace house in Fitzroy, Cobbler's Bar runs 40 covers across two rooms connected by a narrow corridor. The cocktail list is longer than it needs to be but the execution is tighter than the room suggests. The Australian whisky section is the best single-country collection of any underground bar on this list, with 35 bottles representing every serious distillery currently operating in the country. The bar snacks are made in the upstairs kitchen and served warm, which is a detail that matters more than it sounds.

Order: A flight of three Australian single malts, chosen with help from the bartender