Delicious Hot Dogs and a great beagle!

It has been a long time since I’ve written about a place in Hokota—mainly because I usually have to drive all the way around Lake Kasumigaura to get there. By chance, I happened to be passing through Hokota after taking care of something in Mito and decided to grab some dinner to take home.
I laughed to myself because I thought, there’s nowhere around Hokota where I can grab dinner. It was close to 5 o’clock, and I assumed everything would already be closed.
But while scrolling through Google, I found one place that was on my way home. It was only about three minutes out of the way, and they made hot dogs. That’s how I found myself standing in front of Hot Dog CCC.

Hot Dog CCC

CCC, which stands for Chika Chan Chi (I think it’s the name of the restaurant’s dog), is located in the Kajiyama area of Hokota. I’m not sure how you would get there without a car. I didn’t see any buses, and there are no train stations nearby. You could always bike around Lake Kasumigaura, but that might take a while.
CCC sits right on the waterfront of Lake Kasumigaura. When I arrived, the first thing I saw was a house and a small shack. I soon realized that the shack had tables and chairs inside, along with a bunch of American memorabilia. This was the eat-in section. There was also a motorcycle parking area with a small doghouse.
Next to the house was an even smaller shack—this is where the kitchen and ordering counter are located.
When I arrived, the owner of CCC was cleaning up the tables and chairs and getting ready to close. I felt a bit bad about showing up so late, but she said my timing was perfect. She had two hot dogs left, and the kitchen was still ready to go.

The Menu

The menu is posted on the window of the ordering shack. All of the hot dogs are listed in Japanese, but I’ll try to translate them.
The first hot dog is the Kitaura. This one is spicy, topped with jalapeños and chili, and finished with cheese.
The second hot dog is the Taiyo. The Taiyo is another spicy option on the menu. It’s topped with spicy salsa and Vietnamese chili sauce, along with some jalapeños.
The third hot dog is the Hokota, which comes with ketchup and BBQ sauce.
The fourth hot dog is the Kajiyama. This one is all about the cheese—basically a wiener surrounded by melted cheese.
Finally, there’s the CCC Original hot dog, which is topped with honey and slices of lemon.
CCC also offers desserts and treats. You can order pudding, ice cream, or mini cope, which are small rolled breads filled with anko and cream. There are several flavors available, including strawberry, coffee, and matcha.
I decided to order two hot dogs and two copes. The owner told me it would take about ten minutes and that I could wait in my car. She said she would bring the food out to me when it was ready. I told her I’d rather look around while she prepared my dinner.
I’m glad I said that, because otherwise I would have never met the restaurant’s mascot.

A Very Cute Beagle

If you plan to visit CCC, make sure you stop and pet the lovely beagle hanging around the doghouse. That’s exactly what I did while waiting for my food. Just look at how cute that beagle is! We played tug-of-war with her toy, ran around her play area, and spent a good five minutes with nonstop petting. We were both having a great time.
When my food was ready, I was a little sad to say goodbye to that amazing beagle.
I thanked the owner for the hot dogs and for letting me play with her dog. Then I headed home and waited for my wife to get back. When she arrived, we reheated the hot dogs and began our hot dog dinner.

Kajiyama

The first hot dog we tried was the Kajiyama. I’ll be honest—I think this hot dog probably would have tasted even better if I had eaten it at the restaurant. That doesn’t mean it was bad—quite the contrary. The Kajiyama was quite tasty.
The thing is, when I got home, the cheese had solidified and become hard. That was to be expected since I got this hot dog for takeout. I popped it in the microwave for a few minutes, and that helped loosen the cheese a little bit, but it was still a bit spongy after I warmed it up. I probably should have put it in the oven, but what’s done is done.
Even so, the hot dog was delicious. There was some pepper mixed into the cheese, which gave it a nice peppery kick. One part of the hot dog that really impressed me was the bun. The owner said it was French bread, but it wasn’t the hard style of French bread. The bun was very soft and moist, and even though it was soft, it still held everything together perfectly.
The cheese had a little bit of oil, but the wiener actually tasted better because of it. Overall, it was a pretty good hot dog, and I hope I get to try it at the restaurant someday.

CCC Original Hot Dog

The next hot dog was the restaurant’s original CCC hot dog. This hot dog came with lemon slices, honey, ketchup, and mustard. With so many conflicting flavors, I wasn’t sure how it was going to taste.
My wife took the first bite and gave it her signature thumbs up. She said it was weird, but that all the flavors somehow worked themselves out. I took the next bite and completely agreed with her assessment. It was strange having sour lemons, sweet honey, mustard, and ketchup all in one bite with that meaty wiener. But somehow, it all worked together and made this hot dog great.
The bun held everything together and tasted amazing. All in all, this was one of the weirdest and most delicious hot dogs I’ve had in Japan. Not bad, CCC.

Mini Copes

After our hot dogs, we moved on to dessert, which was their mini copes. I ordered the coffee anko-flavored cope and the matcha anko-flavored cope. Both copes came with cream along with their respective anko fillings.
If I had to choose between the two, I would have to declare the matcha cope the winner. The coffee cope had some nice beans in it that were delightful, but the coffee flavor itself was pretty weak. The matcha flavor, however, was a different story. Biting into that cope brought a blast of matcha flavor along with the delicious taste of fresh-baked bread.
I was honestly shocked by how good CCC’s bread was. The hot dog buns were amazing, and so were the rolls used for the copes. Mrs. Ibaraki Eats agrees that the matcha cope was the clear winner. She’s hoping to try the strawberry cope next time.

My adventure at CCC was a fun one. I ordered some pretty tasty hot dogs and dessert, and I even made a new furry friend. Unfortunately, CCC is very far from where I live, so I’m not sure when I’ll be back. But when I do return, you can bet that I’ll be trying the rest of the menu—and that CCC’s beagle will be getting a lot of pets from me.

So if you’re around Hokota and craving some hot dogs, why not give Hot Dog CCC a chance? Who knows? You might see me there. Ordering some hot dogs while playing with a very friendly beagle
Enjoy!

For more information on Hot Dog CCC, visit their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/chika_chan_chi