New York City has plenty of cocktail bars where you have to shout over the music. Don’t Be Shy is taking the opposite approach.
The new Hudson Square cocktail bar is now open at 68 Charlton Street, bringing a Tokyo-inspired drinking experience to downtown Manhattan. Specifically, the concept draws from the classic bars of Tokyo’s Ginza district, with an emphasis on precision, seasonal ingredients and cocktails that don’t need to scream for attention.
In other words: your phone can stay in your pocket. Your cocktail can do the talking.
Don’t Be Shy describes its drinks as original creations shaped by Japanese culture, history and the quieter details of the seasons. Rather than simply recreating classic Japanese cocktails, the bartenders reinterpret those ideas through their own perspective.
The menu includes inventive drinks such as Leaves Falling, made with black tea gin, Calvados, apple juice, maple syrup and lemon, and Windy & Warm, combining horseradish-infused mezcal, Campari tomato, sudachi, jalapeño and tomato water.
There’s also Filthy Mind, a vodka-and-gin cocktail with vermouth bianco, olive juice, honey and blue cheese olive. Because apparently the dirty martini needed a little more attitude.
Classic cocktails aren’t completely ignored, either. Guests can order a Dry Martini, Gimlet, Negroni, Espresso Martini or Rye Manhattan, while a selection of Japanese whiskies, gin, sake and other spirits rounds out the menu.
The bar is currently open Tuesday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to midnight, with last seating at 11:30 p.m., and reservations are available.
For anyone searching for new NYC cocktail bars, Hudson Square nightlife, Japanese-inspired bars in NYC or unique cocktails in Manhattan, Don’t Be Shy deserves a spot on the radar.
Just don’t expect to be yelled at.
This is New York nightlife with the volume turned down—and the cocktails turned up.
