The Butcher

T.B.A. is one of Amsterdam's cutest speakeasy bars. Hidden behind a huge, iron refrigerator door with doorbell at the back of a well-known burger bar in the Pijp area, this is where the city's hipsters gather in the evenings for cocktails into the wee hours of the morning. To get in, you need to know the right people, be on the guest list and know the right password. A doorbitch dressed in black then determines whether you'll be granted access to the exclusive, dark nightclub where you get to sit at a large oval bar with handsome cocktail shakers. At the back of the establishment you will find large plush couches and sofas where you can sink your teeth into one of the special cocktails, and where you can smoke without anyone being surprised.

The term speakeasy dates back to the 1920s when the liquor trade was curbed and illegal distilleries and bars sprang up where you could enter by invitation only.