When it comes to exclusive bars, to say you’ve been is equal to bragging that you were able to get in. But when it comes to Mulberry Project, you’re not only bragging that you got in—you’re bragging that you were able to find it.

Hidden beneath a handbag shop in il cuore of Little Italy, Mulberry Project is marked only by the bouncers outside. Try to stop by when they’re not there, and join a throng of lost, late-night traffic that has the speakeasy’s neighbors braced for random door-buzzing.

Visiting Mulberry Project is like being let in on a secret. Behind the red front door is an intimate cocktail lounge with dim lighting and low ceilings. Curved black leather banquets surround tables full of model types, whose bottles of Champagne chill in wide, shallow bowls of ice. Black lamps hang over the bar, made from what look like metal drain grates. Black and red graffiti provide the backdrop, with backlit shelves holding rows of liquor bottles.

Don’t even think about ordering a vodka soda at the bar. Bartenders lean in close to find out what you like, what you don’t like and what you’re in the mood for, and make custom cocktails from there. After asking for something clean and not too sweet using rum, one patron left the bar sipping happily on a concoction of rum with honeydew melon and cucumber.   

It should come as no surprise that the bartenders at Mulberry Project are able to create game-changing cocktails on the fly, given their résumés. They hail from nightlife leaders like Milk and Honey, Top of The Standard (formerly Boom Boom Room) and Goldbar. Are all great NYC bars hard to find? In this case, yes. 149 Mulberry St., 646-448-4536