House of Wax - A Quirky Bar Hidden Inside a Mall

Some of my friends may know I love to go to Speakeasies (hidden bar) and explore special cocktails. Some bars are hidden behind the cafe, some are located behind a restaurant bookshelf, or even in the iconic building of Grand Central Terminal. This bar called House of Wax was quite different.

After dinner with a group of friends, I did not want to go straight home so I suggested Yu to visit this unusual bar in Brooklyn that I mark on my Google map "Want to go". We took a C Line subway all the way from Midtown to Brooklyn and got off Jay St- Metro Tech Station. It was around eight in the evening, the sky was dark filled with cloud but the moon was round and clear. I thought Halloween is coming.

We then walk about a few minutes along Fulton St road and in my surprise we arrived in front of a mall. "A mall??" I thought. I wasn't expecting the bar to be inside the mall. It's a modern mall where there is Trader's Joe and Target. I've been to many speakeasies for over 4 years and never seen a hidden bar inside a mall. Only in an old building.

We entered the mall and tried to find the bar. We walked down the escalator to the basement where there is a food hall called Dekalb Market Hall. Went around and found nothing. Actually we found a cool bar which look hidden (Ill visit this next time) but it wasn't what we were finding. I was craving for sweets so bought some ice cream from Ample Hills at the hall. Yum.

Moving forward, we went back to the ground floor and looked for a sign. There is no sign anywhere about the bar. Nice, Mika. Of course there is no sign its supposed to be hidden! But in the same time we thought we were in the wrong building. We went outside the mall but the address seems to be correct. We gave up and looked up online for direction. The address written as #4410... I thought "Isn't that an apartment number?" I was confused but we took the elevator anyway on the Fleet St side onto the 4th floor. I was a bit concern since there was a note on the wall written as "Don't use this elevator to go to the 1st floor" I thought "We are going to the 4th so it should be fine". We end up in the service hallway.

Long story short, we had to take the other glass elevator on Albee Square side to the 4th floor to get to this bar. Once you step out of the elevator you see a carpet leading to the bar with an entrance full of face wax displayed behind the glass. The bar was not even hidden at this point. But it did a great job to confuse people on where to go.

I was excited when I step in. It feels like a haunted museum of wax in the same time you can hear a mellow music playing in the background. I went deep inside to see what was there in the end of the hall but it was quite disturbing. There was a mold of multiple realistic female and male body parts displayed. I went back to the dining area to grab some cocktails. One of my favorite part to do is to explore specialty cocktails.

Yu ordered Lolita Nymph under Anathomicals - it consists Brooklyn gin, orange and basil shrub, orange and basil oil. I ordered under Phatologicals where it says "pick your poison". I ordered Manhattan Sour - white egg (yes, my favorite), sour, absinthe... I forgot the rest of the ingredients. Both drinks has similarity. You can taste the bitter, almost taste like medicine so I personally did not like my drink.

I was taking a picture of Yu's cocktail (above). I was trying to adjust the light candle to get a better lighting for my picture. You can see some other wax displayed behind my back. I wondered if the wax was made solely for the bar or was it used for some medical purpose?

After a drink, I called the lady server for a bill. She was wearing a short white mini skirt similar to a maid outfit, I wondered if she was wearing a costume all year round or because its Halloween season.

Overall, it was an interesting experience.

Thanks for reading! I love speakeasies and plan to visit more. There are so many new one's opening but there are only few that are legit. Stay tuned!