Bone Daddies

Bone Daddies. Not the poorly titled coming of age story where Little Bones (of the Funny Bones family) deals with issues surrounding teen pregnancy, but actually a much hyped Ramen bar. “Ramen’s just overpriced pot noodle” I hear you cry, and that may be true of most establishments but, for once, this place lives up to the hype.

I met up with an old uni friend for our annual Christmas meal and from the off I was impressed. They had a draft excluder over the door, which instantly won them customer service points as it greatly reduced the December chill.

Usually I find the no reservation trend that swept new openings in 2012 irksome but it suited BD’s relaxed vibe well and we were shown to seats at the window counter / bar very quickly.

I ordered the Tonkotsu pork ramen and my companion opted for the Tantanmen chicken mince ramen. 

You’ll note the lack of photos. Mainly because it smelled so good that I went to town on that bad boy as soon as it was laid down in front of me. When I opted to breathe for a moment rather than shovelling spoonfuls of hot, delicately spiced noodles in my cake hole (now rebranded my ramen hole^TM) I confirmed my companion was enjoying his with as much gusto as me. He didn’t let me try it. It was that good. But then again, there was no way he was getting his paws on mine so fair dues.

<arty photo would've been inserted here had I not been such a glutton...here's a logo instead>

The stock – or trendily monikered ‘pork bone broth’ – that was ladled over the dish was really top notch but then, when you bother putting 20 hours into something it better be damned nice. I opted for some crispy chicken skins to be added to my order but actually they were a little superfluous to requirement and once they dropped into the broth they lost their crackle. Many have reported the fat pipette a real treat, so maybe next time I’ll go for that but I’m rather of the opinion “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” They also provide a fun sesame grinder, garlic smasher and soy sauce so you can season to taste, should you wish.

Now if this had been it, with the tender pork and generous vegetables hiding amongst the mammoth portion of noodles (oh yea, you get plenty of bang for your proverbial buck) I would’ve been very content. For me, what pushed the dish into such a transcendent state of foodgasm I almost required a post-coital cigarette was the eggs. I say eggs, I mean soft boiled orbs of heaven. The yolks were of the gelatinous gooey consistency I adore with a firm white. There was something otherworldly about them, which I have since discovered from this feature on Editer was that they had been marinated in a soy and sugar solution. In short: good eggs.

All this was washed down with the ridiculously named Mr Sparkle, which I ordered on name alone, but was a tongue-tinglingly lovely mix of grapefruit, cucumber and Oolong tea (which always sounds a bit Carry On! to me so = winner). It probably wasn’t worth the £4.20 sticker price apart from novelty value but nice none-the-less. A selection of beer, wine, sake and spirits are available as well as other cheeky sounding teas and smoothies.

Overall – relaxed but buzzy atmosphere, you'll leave with full belly and an obsession to marinade eggs.

Good for – winter warmers; pre-theatre; lunch with friends; solo dining.

Bad for – dates (subcategory: getting lucky). Sauce all over the face. They even provide hairbands so you can really chow down. Not sexy (unless you like that kind of thing, in which case, call me).

£ - about £18 a head (with drinks & tip).

Find them at: 

31 Peter Street, London W1F 0AR, UK

Opening Hours:

Lunch
Mon – Fri 12pm – 3pm
Sat 12pm – 12am
Sun 12pm – 9pm

Dinner
Mon 5:30pm-10pm
Tues and Wed 5:30pm-11pm
Thurs and Fri 5:30pm-12pm
Sat 12pm – 12am
Sun 12pm – 9pm

Follow @bonedaddiesRbar for updates.