Hold onto your whiskers, there’s a new bar in town and it wants to shave your face, cut your hair and then serve you alcohol. Say what? The Barber Shop on York street is certainly upping the ante when it comes to innovative bar design and creativity.
For started you could easily walk past this bar, assuming it’s simply a Barber Shop but just like Beauty & Essex and Please Don’t Tell in New York, looks can be deceiving. At B&E you need to walk through a pawn shop to enter a grand two level bar and at PDT the entrance is a phone booth in the corner of a hotdog shop, dial the right number and try your luck at getting in.
Mike Enright, former Drinks Master of Merivale’s cocktail empire is the head bartender and owner. Take a seat at the bar or if you’re lucky a hard to find chair or lounge. There’s something on the drinks menu for all tastes including cocktails, craft beers and cider, Champagne and wine.
The food options are simple with ham and cheese baguettes and marinated olives. The bar backs on to the same lane way entrance as Baxter Inn but unfortunately you’re not allowed to use the back entrance to hop between the two right now.
The bar gets really busy Thurs-Sat so try checking it out earlier in the week or go early. Who’d have thought that a blade to your face and a couple of beers would ever go hand in hand?
