Bone Daddies & Gelupo, Soho

Bone Daddies is not your typical Japanese restaurant name, and this new ramen noodle bar on Peter Street in Soho is definitely a step away from other Japanese restaurants in London.  The tongue in cheek name is in reference to the bones used to create ramen broth, and was chosen by the Australian ex-Zuma chef Ross Shonhan to reflect the fact he is not your traditional Japanese chef.

Outside (courtesy of Bone Daddies Twitter)

The ramen craze in Japan and New York seems to have taken hold over here, with places like Tonkotsu (just up the road on Dean Street) and Bone Daddies serving it up.  Ramen is a noodle dish with broth made from either pork, chicken or fish bones, but with no standardised version and ingredients differing from region to region. 

The menu at Bone Daddies includes 8 different types of ramen, and snacks such as sashimi, fried chicken, pickles and soft shell crab.  We started with some glasses of cava (£4 each) and were lucky to benefit from a kitchen mix-up that meant they had some spare edamame (£3.50) and fried chicken (£5) for us to try.  The edamame were fresh and salty, and the fried chicken had a great crunchy coating for the juicy meat, and was given high praise from the fried chicken expert among us.

Sweet 3 Miso Ramen

Tonkotsu Ramen

Between us we went for a bowl of the Sweet 3 Miso Ramen, and two bowls of the Tonkotsu Ramen – all 8 ramen include noodles, crunchy beansprouts, bamboo shoots and gooey-yolked soy soaked eggs.  The sweet miso version was tasty with a flavoursome chicken bone miso broth and tender chicken, wakame seaweed, corn and butter – this was good, but was overshadowed by the tonkotsu.  The tonkotsu was topped with sliced chosu pork (melting, fatty, barbecued pork) and spring onions, and the 20 hour pork bone broth was intensely savoury, porky, rich and utterly delicious, and shows what amazing stocks can be produced through the careful slow cooking of often thrown away bones.  You can add toppings to the ramen including a pipette of extra fat for 50p, but this would have been a step too far for me (although I have heard people raving about this rich addition).

The ramen range from £8-11, so an affordable, filling and satisfying bowl of great comfort food.  The service was relaxed and friendly, and I really liked the minimal décor and rock and roll music.  Bone Daddies is something a little different, and I will definitely be back for another bowl of ramen soon to escape the chilly streets of Soho this winter.

We carried on our gluttony nearby at Gelupo on Archer Street, the artisan gelato shop from the people behind Bocca di Lupo opposite.  The gelato is all made on the premises from great ingredients, which results in stunning, and often unusual flavours.  

Coconut & Chocolate Sorbet

We started with some wonderfully textured coconut sorbet and the bitter chocolate sorbet, which has an intense but clean cocoa flavour (it’s dairy free too so feels a little more virtuous).  One pot led to many, with rich hazelnut ice-cream, a boozy Christmas pudding flavour (spiced ice-cream studded with brandy-soaked raisins), fresh pear sorbet, and finally jammy blackberry sorbet. 

Gelupo is my favourite spot for ice-cream – they let you try the flavours before you choose, and with small pots or cones starting at £3, one of the most delicious things you can get with change left from a fiver.

www.twitter.com/bonedaddiesRbar

www.gelupo.com/