OK, where shall we start? I’ll tell you what, to get the ball rolling, scroll down, have a look at the pictures, then come back. Look like we’ve cobbled together a series of images with little or no connection? Perhaps. Look like we’ve lost our marbles, and are now recommending sex shops as the new hot place to be? Well, that’s another story, for another day. Familiar with New York designer and nightlife entrepreneur Serge Becker? He’s the guy behind La Esquina, the super-cool downtown Manhattan joint that hides behind the façade of a beat up old diner. Making sense yet? Yeah, Becker (along with co-designer Jason Volenec) agrees with my thinking: that seedy old, neon peep show windows, look cool. As. Fuck.

So, that’s that out of the way… head past the nervous old, long-coated chaps shuffling around outside, and a spellbinding den of Latin American cool awaits downstairs. Beaten up walls, wine barrels, a crow and the remnants of a piano; it’s like a scene from El Mariachi. A second entrance on an adjacent street reveals a more casual taqueria and café, with a very diner-esque aesthetic, the Lucha Libre style gig and event posters are frankly fantastic. Oh, and the film stills? They’re from the website, we just had to throw them in the mix.

All in all, La Bodega Negra is a place of stark contrasts, all of them brimming with speakeasy-hip, expectedly it’s the capital’s hottest new gaff – but, for once, it’s more than worthy of that accolade.