Delicious Creamy Ramen

Finally! I have finally visited Cotton Pot!
If you didn't read my post on the Ibaraki Craft Beer Fest that happened in Mito, you might be confused as to why I am so excited to have finally visited this ramen place. As I said in that post, every time I have tried to visit Cotton Pot, something has gotten in the way. Be it scheduling conflicts, something suddenly came up, or a cold. It seemed like I would be forever doomed not to visit this ramen place that I have heard great things about.
Then, on one hot day in August, I parked my car at the nearest pay-to-park parking lot in Mito and walked to this elusive ramen restaurant. Today, my post is about my adventure to Mito's own Cotton Pot.

Cotton Pot

Cotton Pot is located in the Sakuragawa area of Mito City. It is surrounded by a lot of hotels, local businesses, and restaurants.
I arrived at Cotton Pot and was not sure if they had parking. I didn't see a sign or anything so I drive a few blocks away and parked at a pay-to-park parking lot. I then walked back to Cotton Pot and took the picture above. I wish I could give you a nice picture of Cotton Pot, but they seem to be in the middle of remodeling the restaurant. Once the remodeling is finished I hope I can take a picture of the new looking Cotton Pot.
What surprised me about Cotton Pot was they had what looked like a small take out window by the main entrance. I was curious but there were no staff members by that window so I am not even sure if that window is being used by the restaurant. Anyway, I looked around the entrance area and headed inside.

Inside

Inside Cotton Pot, it looked like a typical ramen place except with a few changes. Like a typical ramen place, there is a counter area right by the kitchen, but a plastic sheet separates the kitchen area from the dining area. That takes me back to 2022 when all restaurants did that to protect the staff from the coronavirus. There was also table seating around the restaurant. Like a typical ramen place, the ticket vending machine was right by the entrance. You push a few buttons on the machine, grab your ticket, give your ticket to the staff, and sit at the counter. What was not typical of a ramen place was that all the staff were ladies. I know it is 2024 and I shouldn't be surprised by this, but this is Japan. A male-dominated country. I know it sounds bad, and it is, but I still get surprised by it and I feel hopeful when I see business that have an all-female staff and that are doing extremely well.

The Menu

As you can see from the picture above, the menu is on the ticket vending machine. It is also completely in Japanese. No English. I'll try to help translate some of it:
The first ramen was cut off from the picture so sorry, I don't know what it is.
The next ramen are the Pure Chicken White Soup Soba (slow-cooked chicken broth), Chicken Soba, Maze Soba, Miboshi (dried sardine) Oil Soba.
Below the ramen is Aidama which is noodles without soup, in case you aren't filled up with just ramen.
The Aidamas are Miboshi, Garlic Pepper, or Keema Curry.
I ended up ordering the ramen that everyone seemed to be ordering, the Pure Chicken White Soup Soba.

Juntori Paitan Soba (Pure Chicken White Broth Soba)

When my ramen was put in front of me, I immediately thought that it looked like an amazing work of ramen art. I haven't seen ramen like it. It wasn't soupy but it looked like a creamy Alfredo sauce ramen. I did see the ramen ladies make my ramen and noticed that they used a frother. Which explains why my ramen looked so creamy and why it had so much froth on top.
After enjoying the view, I dipped my chopsticks into my ramen, grabbed some noodles, and got to slurping. After my first slurp, I have to say that Cotton Pot lives up to all the hype and recommendations I got from many people. It was a fantastic ramen. The noodles were thin and small which reminded me of tonkotsu noodles. Since the noodles were so thin, they were able to soak up the broth which brought up a lot of amazing flavors when those noodles hit my taste buds. The ramen also had some garlic chips which went well with the ramen broth and a lemon slice to give it some zest. I almost forgot to mention the meaty and delicious chashu. There were two pieces of chashu in there and they were delicious.
After I finished my ramen, I didn't exactly feel full. In fact, I could have probably ordered another one. I did think about ordering another bowl of this incredible ramen, but Cotton Pot was getting busier and there was a line forming by the ticket vending machine. So I thanked the ramen ladies and headed back to Tsuchiura.

Cotton Pot, I am extremely happy I was able to finally visit you and have your amazing ramen. I want to go back to your place as soon as possible and try the rest of your menu. Unfortunately, our schedules don't match and you are all the way up in Mito. But if the stars align and I have a chance to visit you again, you can be 100% sure I will take that chance.

So if you are around Mito and are looking for a delicious bowl of ramen for lunch or possibly dinner, why not give Cotton Pot a chance? Who knows, you might see me there, trying another bowl of ramen from Cotton Pot's menu.
Enjoy!

For more information on Cotton Pot, check out their X page:
https://x.com/cottonpot_nabe