Craft Bar Kamon

On our lists of the best speakeasies and cocktail bars in San Diego.

Behind a bakery case at Asa Cafe and Bakery in East Village, a door to the right leads into Bar Kamon, a cocktail room built around the Taisho era of 1920s Japan, when Western style first mixed with Japanese design. The room keeps antique clocks, glass windows and chandeliers from that period, and the bar itself leans on Japanese-made spirits: clarified cocktails, highballs and a whisky list built around sake and Japanese labels. Chicken katsu sandwiches and battered octopus balls round out a small-bites menu built to go alongside the drinks. It's reservations-only and 21 and up, open evenings Wednesday through Monday and closed Tuesdays.