46

Lamp Bar

Nara

Re-Entry

Lamp Bar is a place that people travel to Nara for. It's the creation of Michito Kaneko, a former world champion bartender who left a job in construction after being dazzled by a single, perfectly made drink. That cocktail was a Moscow Mule, and he'll still serve you a great one, but Lamp Bar earned its following with more playful takes on classics using regional ingredients. The Lamp Negroni replaces Campari with house-made bitters built from Japanese spices and citrus, sharpened with a splash of white grape vinegar, and a vermouth made to his recipe by a local sake brewery. The Lamp Penicillin builds on Scotch and lemon with spiced honey, a yoghurt wash, and, instead of an Islay malt, a whisky infused with Lapsang Souchong. Then there's Golden Chronicle, the drink that helped Kaneko win the Diageo World Class global title: a blend of whisky, apple, maple, egg white and sea water.

Kaneko presents his creative cocktail repertoire with a very Japanese style of service. You won't easily detect which guests are new faces and which are old friends – everyone gets focused, unhurried hospitality. Guests are seated in one of three rooms, each with a different theme – cocktail history, cocktail journeys, and the darker side of drink. In the last, a stitched portrait of temperance crusader Carrie Nation hangs on the wall, hatchet raised, angry perhaps at all the alcohol-fuelled fun happening beneath her.

Contact