Bone Daddies, Soho (London)

Bone Daddies is a thumping ramen bar in Soho.  Surprisingly, for London, it is a good ramen bar.  Ouch, did I just say that?

Yes, yes I did – because Japanese food in London is ridiculously overpriced and the overall standard falls far short of Sydney.

But I digress.  On most nights (including weeknights), you will find a queue stretching out the door of Bone Daddies.  I’ve found the magic hour to avoid having to line up for dinner is to arrive by 6.30pm.  The thing about queuing at Bone Daddies is that most of the queue will stretch outside (in the cold) as only about 5-6 people in the queue will fit inside.  They are very vigilant about controlling the line as well, making sure that people stay outside as to not clog the doorway.

On this occasion, I arrived earlier than my friend and the ramen bar had not started to fill up yet. The seating is relatively communal as you share long tables or booths with strangers.

The portion sizes aren’t particularly big but what can you do.  In my opinion, Bone Daddies is a big step above the nearby Tonkotsu.  The tonkotsu ramen is what I have gone back for at Bone Daddies and it satisfies my cravings for ramen.  Their chicken karaage isn’t bad either, although less ‘meatier’ than I would like. 

I recently went to visit the sister restaurant to Bone Daddies, called ‘Flesh & Buns’ – a momfuku inspired bun restaurant in Covent Garden.  More on that later!