Bone Daddies

You may have heard of this new little ramen place called Bone Daddies. There's been some excitement since its opening in early November, or perhaps I just follow noodle nerds. I sat back and watched it all unfold on Twitter, as picture after picture of bowls of tonkotsu littered my Twitter feed. 

I sulked over it. Deep into Vegan Month, tonkotsu was not going to be mine. Made by boiling pig bones until you get the pure essence of pork, it is made milky white by collagen and fat (mmm!) and flavour released from the bones. As soon as veganism was over and done with, I ran down there to try it out for myself. 

Crazed by meat-lust, we kicked off with some decent fried chicken (£5); perfectly crispy and juicy, pepped up with a bit of lemon. Soft shell crab (£8) looked like creatures of the deep reaching out to you. Again, expertly fried they were meaty and served with a lime-spiked sauce. 

I ordered my 'T22' with extra broth (£3!) - I was somewhat over-excited... - which in hindsight wasn't really necessary and swamped the cock scratchings (stop sniggering at the back, it's chicken skin, fried) and rendered them lost in the brothy depths. Nonetheless, the clear soy-based broth was the very essence of chicken. Soft-boiled nitamago (soy marinated egg) was eggy fudgy heaven. Noodles had a decent pull to them and fat coated my lips, making them sticky, like a natural lip balm. I liked it but it wasn't the noodly epiphany everyone had me believe it would be.

It wasn't until I went back for more that I really fell in love with the place.

At 7:30pm on a Friday night, unsurprisingly there was a queue. With an eye on our watches for our impending cinema date, we still managed to get sat down quickly, within half an hour of when we first joined the queue. Cabbage with miso (£2.50) was an addictive and moreish little snack; the leaves were not quite the sulphurous tang of fully raw cabbage yet they still retained a crunch, and the miso sauce was punchy and flavoursome. That soft shell crab had to be ordered again. 

This time, I heeded chef Ross Shonan's advice and went for the standard, non-extra-brothed version. The tantanmen (£10) had a rich sesame-flavoured thick broth, garnished with minced pork as well as chilli and a bit of chicken. Extra corn I added, because there is not a lot that isn't improved with extra corn. Spicy and filling, it was perfect for a cold night, like a big fat hug from the inside. 

I'm already planning my next trip. For roughly £20 a head with starters and sans booze, it's a casual dinner but one made with a lot of expertise and skill. Their cocktails looked pretty decent, and we had a lovely canteloupe sake that the house kindly gifted us.

It might make me fat. I'm ok with that. 

Bone Daddies
31 Peter Street
London W1F 0AR