In Mito, there is an izakaya that is dedicated to one thing, cheese. This place is a cheese paradise and I am so happy to be able to finally write about it. Today, I am going to talk about the cheesiest place to go to in Mito, the Cheese Bar.
Cheese Bar
The Cheese Bar is located in the Jonan area of Mito. I believe it is a 10 minute walk from Mito Station. If you plan to drive there, there is parking in the front of the izakaya. The Cheese Bar looks like an old European style restaurant. You wouldn't believe it was an izakaya from the outside.
Inside
The place certainly has a European restaurant vibe to it when you walk in. The area in the middle show cases all the alcohol they have and the wheels of raclette cheese. Those cheeses are sitting there in all their glory, calling out for you to try them. Unfortunately, because of Covid, I don't think the rolls of raclette cheeses are on display anymore.
The Menu
The Cheese Bar's menu is pretty extensive. Their main dishes are on the front two pages. You got the Raclette Dish which brings vegetables, bacon and bread smothered under amazing looking Raclette cheese. Then, you got the Fondue au Fromage which brings banquette bread, mini tomatoes, shrimp sausage, potato and broccoli. All for your dipping pleasure.
The Other Page
The menu does continue and there are a lot more dishes to choose from plus wines and different drinks. The second page of the menu has the Raclette Fondue and Comtei Fondue. Both fondues bring banquette, shrimp, sausage, potato, mini tomatoes and broccoli. The menu keeps going and has a lot of options. My wife and I decided on the Raclette plate and a few other delicious sounding dishes the night we visited last summer.
Ham Croquettes
My readers from my hometown in Miami may not believe me about this next part. I tried one of these small ham croquettes from this place and I was automatically taken back to my days in Miami when I order ham croquettes at La Caretta, a famous Cuban restaurant in Miami. There are a lot of Cuban restaurants in Miami. Throw a rock in any direction and you are sure to hit one. These croquettes are the closet things to those Cuban croquettes I have ever tried. I was in utter and complete shock. My wife was pretty surprised at my reaction. I was so happy to have these that I think I almost cried. I highly recommend you try them when you visit the Cheese Bar.
Cheese Fondue Grilled Onigiri (Rice Ball)
My wife really wanted to try the cheese fondue grilled onigiri so we ordered it. When it arrived at our table, the cheese was still boiling and it looked so good. We each got a piece of the big onigiri and gave it a minute to cool down. I then put that somewhat cooled piece of onigiri in my mouth and felt hot burning pain. It needed more than a minute.
Next piece! This piece was amazing. The hot melty cheese with the crunch of the grilled onigiri was fantastic. I loved this dish and my wife enjoyed it as well.
It's so beautiful
Look at all that cheese. Isn't it beautiful? Just appreciate that pour and all those other vegetables and meats embracing that raclette cheese like it was an old friend. I was honored to have been able to witness this and couldn't wait to try it.
Raclette
It was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be, but there was a lot of gooey melted cheese in there. Everything in that plate went well with the raclette cheese. The broccoli, good but amazing with that cheese, the potatoes, yeah they are great but they are 100 times better with that cheese. I even got a fork full of just raclette cheese and was in heaven. I asked my wife if we could get another, but last order was a few minutes ago, so no more ordering food. I was sad but another fork full of raclette cheese cheered me up. I was in heavenly cheesy bliss the whole time.
After we finished our amazing cheese dinner, it was time to go. I have been coming to the Cheese Bar quite a few times whenever I visit Mito but I still have yet to try any of the fondues. I will try the fondue next time, but it is hard to turn down that Raclette Cheese plate.
So if you are craving something cheesey, like I usually am, and are around the Mito Station area, why not give the Cheese Bar a chance. Who knows, you might see me there, enjoying the ham croquettes and finally trying the fondue.
Enjoy!
For more information on the Cheese Bar, check out their website;
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