Bone Daddies Soho London

Bone Daddies Soho London is a newly opened Ramen and Noodle restaurant in the centre of Soho. Ramen is a Japanese dish with Chinese origins, and has a meat or bone stock base, usually chicken or pork, so it’s not the best place to go to if you are vegan, but for me it sounded perfect.

I arrived with my Date on one of the coldest days of the year, snow at our feet, so the idea of a warming bowl of noodles only made us hunger for them more. Given the menu and a Ramen spoon, you knew what was expected, in the nicest possible way.

All the Ramen is made freshly on-site, so we decided to order some starters and not to rush the Ramen. I chose the Yellowtail Sashimi skewers on chilli, lime soy and corriander, my Date going for the soft Shell Crab, again with chilli and a ginger sauce.

Both arrived well presented, the Yellowtail being huge chunks on a skewer, and almost a meal in themselves. Lovely taste and texture, with no lingering aftertaste, the lime soy expanding the taste in the mouth. The Crab was exquisite I was told. I didn’t get a chance to try it, but the pictures do not really show how well it was presented on the plate.

For the main dish, I ordered Tonkotsu Ramen, which is Chashu Pork, spring onions, in a 20 hour pork bone broth. It arrived with really deep slices of pork in a very thick broth, fresh vegetables and a sliced egg. Absolutely lovely, although not at all spicy, and after a while I found it a bit dull. I chatted to the manager about this and she said it was because most people expect Ramen to be like Thai food, and therefore expect a Spicy base. I totally concur with this, so if you have never had Ramen before, or have mainly had thai, I suggest choosing a spicy dish. Which is what my Date did.

She chose the Chicken Tantanmen Ramen. It arrived in a reddish sauce, full of spices, frsh vegetables and a halved egg. Much more similiar to a Thai soup than traditional Ramen, this appealed to her, and no complaints at all.

Throughout the meal, we chose Saki to drink. Bone Daddies Soho London has a large selection of Saki, as well as in-house created fruit Saki. Apparently anyone can put fruit juice and fruits into a jar of Saki, wait 2 months, and then pour the most amazing drink. For me it didn’t quit work – not that there was anything wrong, far from it, but what actually happens is that the Saki is totally absorbed into the fruit juice. So the Orange Saki tasted exactly like orange juice. The lemon Saki, exactly like Lemonade. You could only barely tell there was anything in the juice…. but at 22% it had a hidden kick to it. I prefer my kicks less hidden.

So in that vain, I drank the pure Saki; and it was good. Bone Daddies Soho London has a range of Saki that you can have, hot or cold, as well as a very good range of Japanese Whiskey. So you can have the matching drinks to the meal. Saki is a sipping drink, so even at 22% abv, it probably is less than a bottle of wine with a meal.

I used to work in Soho many years ago, and a place like this would have been very welcome. Bone Daddies Soho London is the perfect place to go if you want a great affordable meal. It suits those in a rush, those who want to linger and flirt with each other, and those that want to eat and work on their laptops on the free wifi. If I was working in Soho now, this would be a regular haunt.

Bone Daddies
31 Peter Street
London
W1F 0AR