Last week, I posted a side note on where to get bagels around Ibaraki. Right after I posted that, I heard from a friend that there is a new bagel shop in Tsukuba. I definitely had to check it out, so the Ibaraki Eats Duo went to the middle of the woods in Tsukuba to try SOPO Bagel.
SOPO Bagel
SOPO Bagel is located in the Kise area of Tsukuba. It is kind of bordering Tsuchiura, but it is on the Tsukuba side. If you have ever heard of the camping ground Fontaine no Mori, it is close by there. It is literally in the middle of a forest. There is also a restaurant called Totoya next to it, that I will talk about at a later date.
When you get to this bagel place, you can park in front of the store and listen to the sound of nature all around you. It is a really nice scenic area.
Inside
I should mention that this place is a take out only place. There are no places to sit down and eat your bagel. There is a counter for paying, a sandwich section, and a bagel section. It is a little cramped in this bagel place but everything is nice and looks brand new.
There are a lot of bagels to choose from. SOPO has plain, cheese and bacon, caramel, Earl Grey tea, chocolate and nuts, green tea and anko, and cinnamon raisin flavored bagels.
Sandwich Selection and Coffee
The Sandwich section only has three bagel sandwiches:
Egg Bagel Sandwich
Ham and Gouda Cheese Bagel Sandwich
Smoked Salmon Bagel Sandwich
As for the coffee, the good news is the menu is in English. The great news is the coffee beans are from the Coffee Factory in Tsukuba. So you know the coffee will be excellent.
My wife and I got four different bagels and three bagel sandwiches the day we visited. We were having bagels for lunch.
Ham and Gouda cheese
The first bagel sandwich we tried was the ham and Gouda cheese bagel sandwich. All the sandwiches were around 300-400 yen. Which isn't too bad, but I was only getting half of a bagel sandwich. SOPO is pretty generous with the ham and Gouda cheese. Biting into that sandwich was bliss. Everything tasted fresh. The ham was flavorful and fresh and the cheese was amazing. The bagel, was tough. Chewy and tough. That was a bit of a let down. SOPO does not toast their bagels, so that is why the bagel gave my jaw a work out. But the sandwich was delicious, I think it might have been better if I toasted the bagel myself.
Egg
The next sandwich brought a lot of eggs, and I mean a lot. It was pretty thick. The eggs tasted fresh and delicious. I am not a fan of egg sandwiches, but this egg sandwich was fantastic. Same story with the bagel though.
Smoked Salmon
This was my favorite bagel sandwich. There was a big slice of tomato in this sandwich which I didn't agree with, but it didn't ruin the sandwich. SOPO is again generous with what's in the middle of the sandwich. There was a lot of salmon in there, which I will say again, tasted fresh. The sandwich also had some garlic cream cheese with chives that was heavenly. I am definitely getting this bagel sandwich again. As far as the bagel goes, same story.
Our Bagel Bounty
As I said before, my wife and I bought four bagels. The black bagel is chocolate and nuts, the one to the left of the black bagel is the Earl Grey tea bagel, to the right is the caramel bagel, and finally at the bottom we have the bacon and cheese bagel.
I was a bit upset that SOPO didn't sell cream cheese. Everyone knows that cream cheese goes with bagels. I decided to give these bagels a try without cream cheese. SOPO put some Japanese instructions in our take out bag on how to heat up our bagels. We followed the instructions and tried the chocolate one first.
I first want to say that none of these bagels need cream cheese. All the bagels have a delicious filling inside. Not around the whole bagel but there are surprise pockets of filling that were delightful. I bit into that chocolate bagel and got a mouthful of bagel and melted chocolate filling. It was amazing.
Same can be said for the caramel and Earl Grey tea bagels. Tasty bagels with pockets of delicious filling. The bacon and cheese bagel did not have filling but there were bits of bacon and cheese in the bagel that made this bagel a meaty delight.
Of the four bagels, I have to say that the Earl Grey bagel was my favorite. The Earl Grey cream cheese filling inside of the bagel was out of this world. My wife really liked the chocolate bagel and vowed to buy it again soon.
SOPO isn't your run of the mill bagel place. It is different and interesting. The bagels are excellent, all be it different, and the bagel sandwiches are delicious. I do plan on visiting again and giving their other bagels a try.
So if you have a craving for some bagels in the late morning or afternoon, why not give SOPO a chance. Who knows, you might see me there, struggling with which delicious bagel to try next.
Enjoy!
For more information on SOPO Bagel, check out their Instagram page:
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