Bone Daddies (odd name for a ramen bar?) is the first ramen place I've considered going to here. Maybe because of good advertising and simply the fact that it is new and hip. Reviews have been mixed so far - the main complaints have been about the T22 chicken ramen. I don't think I've ever had a chicken-based ramen in Japan, so I was happy to avoid that anyway.
Peak times supposedly involve lines, so 2pm on a weekday seemed perfect. The setting is made for all sorts - sharing tables, window seats for singles, small tables for privates. The walls are nicely decorated with Japanese posters.
I tried two typical staples - Fried Chicken and Tonkotsu Ramen.
The Fried Chicken (aka tori kara age) is the same as you'd find in Japan - crispy fried, juicy good quality chicken, no added flavours. Simple, effective, authentic. A touch of lemon helps and chilli on standby if you roll that way.
Tonkotsu Ramen (aka pork broth) is as basic as it gets. Like all great Asian noodle soups, the broth is the most important part, and they have done it well. Simple light pork flavour, some murky fat emulsifying through and just done well. Often Japan places to layer this with salt, soy or miso flavour but this was plain and tasty. I had to specifically ask for 7-spice (shichi-mi) and even the wait staff didn't seem to know what it was, which was strange. Within the broth was some typical Japanese char-siu (not the same as the red and 5-spiced Cantonese if that is what you are expecting), bean shoots, garlic chips, bamboo shoots, spring onion and a perfectly soft-boiled egg. My only suggestion would be to have more broth added to the dish as it runs out pretty quickly after a few initial ladles to taste it on its own.
The prices aren't cheap, but expected for a new place in Soho London. I suppose the only real complaint here is a cup of green tea for £3 - extortionate.
Next time I would order the Tonkotsu Ramen for a safe bet. Chicken broth would be an unusual change just to test it (since 6 dishes are chicken broth based and only one pork) of which the Sweet 3 Miso Ramen appeals to me most. The snacks are all supplementary options but none seem necessary - you are here for the ramen.
2013
As my time in London came to a close, Bone Daddies became the restaurant I most frequently ate at and the one I would unhesitating go back to for any meet. I may have attended 6 times in 2013, of which 4 were during my final month of October. The reason was simple - the tonkotsu ramen was still delicious but the addition of the spicy pig bones was a sensation. Soft pork ribs doused in a thick sweet sauce (honey/sugar, mirin, rice wine, soy is all I could determine from it) are incredible. Keep going back.
