Time For a Bagel Sandwich!

Well hello there my bagel loving friend. Yes, this post is going to be about bagels. Different kinds of bagels and bagel sandwiches. So where can you go to get some delicious bagels around this prefecture? There are a few places I have written about before, but today I will be talking about Ushiku's very own Dot Bagel.

Dot Bagel

Dot Bagel is located in the Minami area of Ushiku. It is a four minute walk from Ushiku station.

Sadly, this outing was a solo adventure on a Saturday afternoon. I had just finished my Saturday morning plans in Tsukuba when I decided that I wanted bagels. I thought about going to SOPO Bagels which I have written about before.

Even though I like SOPO Bagel, I made the decision to try a new place. I had heard about DOT Bagel in Ushiku and made the 25 minute drive to try them. I finally found DOT Bagel but passed them as they were not easy to spot at first. Then, I did a U-turn and looked for parking. This was a bit tricky. DOT Bagel is part of a small one story building with different restaurants and shops. I had no idea where to park until I saw a small opening at the side of the building. This is where the parking area is and DOT Bagel has signs to tell you which spaces are theirs. So if you decide to try DOT Bagel, please slow down when you are getting close and look for the small entrance that leads to the back of the building.

Inside

After finding my parking spot, I walked into DOT Bagel to find a take out place only. DOT Bagel is pretty small. There is a long hallway that leads to all the bagels. You then grab your tray and tongs, and select which bagel you want. One thing I found interesting was there was a huge window by the bagels where you can see the inside of the kitchen. I wanted to look at all the available bagels but then I saw the bagel sandwich menu.

The Bagel Sandwich Menu

Unfortunately, the bagel sandwich menu is only in Japanese. But as always, Mr. Ibaraki Eats has your back.

The first sandwich is the Smoked Salmon which brings cream cheese, smoked salmon (obviously), caper, and raw onions.
Next to that is the Prosciutto Lettuce which brings cream cheese, lettuce, prosciutto, and black pepper.
The following sandwich is the Avocade Shrimp which brings those two things, lettuce, and mayo.
Next to that is the Duck Pastrami which brings cream cheese, lettuce, duck pastrami, red wine sauce, and onions.
Finally, the BLT which brings cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, bacon and mayo.

Next to the sandwiches are all the extra toppings you can order for your bagel sandwich.

On the bottom part of the menu are the sweet bagel sandwiches.
There is the Anbutter Bagel with anko and soy butter.
After that is the Frozen Cream Cheese which brings a plain bagel, and frozen cream cheese.

Next to those sweet bagel sandwiches are the different cream cheeses you can order. The first is a mixed berry cream cheese, black sugar and soy powder granola cream cheese, walnut honey cream cheese, and finally the caramel mixed nuts.

I decided to get a bagel sandwich, cream cheese, and then checked out the rest of the bagels.

The Bagel Selection Menu

The bagel labels are all in Japanese and the menu above the bagels is also in Japanese. Not to worry, here are the options in English: plain, sesame, onion, everything (no idea what that means), walnut, bacon and cheese, mentai mayo, cheese, chocolate, caramel chocolate, chocolate banana, apple cinnamon, matcha white chocolate, cocoa white chocolate, W Chocolate (probably means a lot of chocolate), chocola orange,

I grabbed four different bagels, payed, and was on my merry way to have my bagels and my bagel sandwich at home.

My Bagel Bounty

As I wrote above, I bought four different bagels. The white chocolate matcha bagel, a plain bagel, walnut bagel, and the bacon and cheese bagel. Besides the plain bagel, all the bagels had some sort of filling inside.
Let me start off with the white chocolate matcha bagel. This was one of my favorites. I love matcha. If you are not a big fan of matcha, then this bagel isn't for you. When I bit into this bagel I got a nice strong flavor of matcha filling with small little white chocolate chips around the bagel. It was a clear winner.
Next, I want to talk about the walnut bagel. Can you guess what the filling flavor was? If you said walnut, you would be correct. It was a tasty bagel but not my favorite of the bunch. The bagel texture was quite nice though.
Next up, is the bacon and cheese bagel. This bagel had small chunks of bacon in the cheese filling which was perfect. Some sort of light pepper and cheese seasoning was sprinkled around the bagel which gave it some nice added flavor. This bagel was also on my winner's list.

Mixed Berry Cream Cheese and Plain Bagel

After reading my post, if you decide to go and grab a bagel from Dot Bagel, then let me give you an important piece of advice. Do not leave Dot Bagel without getting at least one of their original cream cheeses. Yes, it is a small size for a cream cheese but this mixed berry cream cheese may have changed the way I see cream cheese here in Japan forever.
Spreading that cream cheese on a plain bagel should be experienced by everyone in Ibaraki. The fresh tasting strawberries and black berries with that creamy cream cheese was magnificent. Spreading it on that plain bagel (don't forget to toast the bagel a little) and taking a bite was the highlight of my morning. My wife got the other half of the bagel and claimed we needed to buy more cream cheese from Dot Bagel. I am hoping we can try the caramel mixed nuts cream cheese next time.

Smoked Salmon Bagel Sandwich

I have talked about the bagels and cream cheese, now it is time to get to the bagel sandwich. I bought the smoked salmon bagel sandwich. What impressed me about Dot Bagel was that they made my sandwich right after I ordered it, in front of me. Some bagel sandwiches have the sandwich ready made and you just grab it. This place makes it for you. I decided to have the bagel sandwich in my car since I was starving.
It has been so long since I have had a cream cheese and salmon bagel sandwich. I was excited to try Dot Bagel's smoked salmon sandwich. I got my sandwich on a plain bagel. I took a bite and I was in bagel sandwich paradise. Everything went perfectly well in this sandwich. The raw onions with the salmon was excellent, and the cream cheese brought everything together like a orchestra conductor making sure everyone played their part. The plain bagel took a step back from the flavor orchestra, but it did it's job of holding the whole sandwich together. This was a great bagel sandwich and I can't wait to try the other bagel sandwiches on the menu.

Dot Bagel is by far one of the best bagel shops I have had the pleasure of visiting. I know there aren't many bagel shops around Ibaraki, but this place has amazing bagels, cream cheese, and sandwiches. I can't wait to go back and get more bagels for a great breakfast.

So if you are around Ushiku and are in the mood for bagels, why not give Dot Bagel a chance? Who knows, you might see me there, ordering a new bagel sandwich and finally getting the caramel mixed nuts cream cheese.
Enjoy!

For more information on Dot Bagel, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/dot.bagel/?hl=en

A special thank you to Vi Vian for the recommendation. They were great bagels.