Bone Daddies

How have I not reviewed Bone Daddies yet?
As a vegetarian this is my go-​to ramen stop, offering an alternative to the predictable miso broths.
Bone Daddies often has a queue, in my experience Sunday lunch time is the best time to avoid this. Music is a little loud, and the high-​stall seating doesn’t make me feel so inclined to stay here all evening. Bone Daddies will always be a bit of an in and out affair for me.
The uname-​rich vegetarian mushroom broth at Bone Daddies is a solid veggie alternative to the traditionally meaty tonkotsu. At around £10, the price is a little steep, but this is Soho. The mushrooms in this broth are delicious, though on my last visit I got only three pieces of tofu. Inconsistent but delicious.

Woah this was good. My friend ordered the kimchee ramen and I had already bought a veggie pot pie so I didn’t order anything. This place was packed and I could see why. The ramen was the bomb! Not salty, not oily, not bland, not cheap on ingredients. All was great about this dish and it was not expensive either. The waiter was friendly and the customers had so much energy. You won’t feel lonely here if you are a solo traveler.

So it’s a good place on the cheap which means no reservations and just work on luck. We found a table and I ordered Korean chicken wings, this is more of a tomato based chicken wing and not authentic Korean wing but tasty anyways. The ramen, so I ordered the pork and found that the base stock was rather salty and very thick. I think I will just select a miso base next time. Good drink selection.

Confession: it’s controversial, but I don’t think I really like ramen. I’ve tried supposedly good places in the past and not been impressed so thought I’d give it one last crack at the grand daddy. Bone Daddies was actually great. I don’t think I’m a convert but it was definitely good, super tasty! If you’re a ramen lover you’ll like it!

Ok maybe I am getting old and if I am going to eat somewhere in Soho, certain things will affect my decision regarding WHERE to go.
Bone Daddies was a must when I first arrived in London 2 years ago and I have to say that I’m still enjoying going there once a month BUT there are some Pros and Cons that I would like to share with people mid 30’s like me. Let’s start!
PROS:
— Ramen is really good, tasty and rich. I normally go for a TANTANMEN but also SOY RAMEN is lovely and the price is good (11£ or less),
— food is coming quickly, you don’t have to wait ages and there are also some nice thing on the table like elastic band for people with long hair or additional garlic, chilli and sesame. Nice!
CONS
— nice food = big queue. Don’t think you go there on a Thursday/​Friday/​Saturday/​Sunday evening (after 7pm) and you will get a table in 5 mins. You will get a table in 15 mins (if you are lucky…)
— This place is really loud! Loud music playing all the times. If you are going with friends, the conversation with them could be quite difficult.
— small venue: I think they might have 10 tables in total and quite closer one to the other so if you want a bit of privacy or having a chat (hard with the loud music playing in the background), this could be a problem.
In the end, I give you a 4 star my dear Bone Daddies, but trust me, you’ll need to get some areas improved :)

Ordered the «TANTANMEN 2» which they warned was spicy — but was just fine. The Chicken bone broth is thicker than I was expecting, almost tastes like a peanut sauce. I wish it wasn’t as sweet, but overall very delicious.
My colleague ordered the mushroom vegetarian, which I think I will try next time.

If they want to open a pub-​like Reman restaurant, they really need to think twice as sometimes innovation could just go south…
The taste of Reman was even worse than fast noodles… The noodle was too soft and soaked too much… The soup was just too artificial and the taste was bad…
It’s better if its just a bar for a drink…

What can I say? I’d walked past this place a few times and read about it when searching for good ramen in Soho and I have to say I was pretty disappointed :(The place itself was cool, nice ambience, good décor, clean, good location… Was quite promising when we came in, but… The food was average… Bummer. As a general measure when I get ramen, I always try the tonkotsu… If the place can make a good flavoursome clean tonkotsu then it’s gotta be a bangin’ place… Sadly the only thing good about this tonkotsu were the thin yellow noodles. The broth was way too fatty and ‘creamy’ in a not so nice way as the flavour lacked depth and seasoning. You have some egg in there and a couple of slices thin pork. For the price you pay and the lack of real tonkotsu flavoured broth you’re better off going to a Shoryu chain or even Wagamamas and that’s saying something ‘cos they’re average too. The food also came out super fast which was a little concerning. Service was inconsistent depending on staff. Hmm… I feel bad to give them a dull review but… Maybe I’ll come back and try something different…

So, I went to Japan for a week, and stayed in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. I ate a lot of ramen there.
Then I came home and met a friend for lunch at Bone Daddie’s. I didn’t even know what kind of food they were going to serve until I got there. I thought to myself «oh no, here we go, the last thing I need after a week in Japan is some hipster place pretending to be a ramen restaurant» but I hadn’t seen my friend for a while and she has good taste so I didn’t kick up a fuss.
And I would have been really embarassed if I had kicked up a fuss, because this place is great!
The ramen is really authentic, just like the stuff you’d get back in Japan. In many ways better because they have pork-​free broth for those who are sensitive to it.
For the price they charge, you get a tasty bowl of soup, with good noodles.
It’s just a shame everyone else in the world seems to know this and there’s always a queue to get in!

I used to go Bone daddies regularly. I don’t any more because my partner and I we pretty much foodie on the run and have this mission not to go the same restaurant again within a short period of time. But I have to say bone daddies does the best soup (?) I believe. Ramen king!

I finally got my ramen fix after craving it for a while ever since I started watching a Japanese Netflix TV show called «Good Morning Call’ (totally hooked on this show). I liked the sound of this place as it was casual dining and has received great reviews.
At 4pm, it was not very busy so my husband and I decided to take the seats near the window gazing out on to the street. I was glad we had the room around our seats as it created a little privacy. The only downside to this was having to turn around to talk to the server, but that was no big deal.
I liked so many things; the little jar of elastic hair bands, bibs, fresh ginger with press, the music and most of all, that there’s no shame in slurping.
We had the fried chicken, which was served piping hot. It came with a lemon wedge, but we preferred a dipping sauce and found the soy sauce, which was good. I then had the Tonkotsu Ramen with extra egg, corn and chicken cock scratchings. Now I was unsure about the latter, but the waitress explained it’s a nice crunchy garnish, which it certainly was. After my meal, I was nicely full and glad it wasn’t raining as I totally needed to walk off the ramen. I can’t wait to go back to try the other dishes.

Disappointing ramen experience here, far below par. Spicy tonkotsu doesn’t even come with an egg (or was forgotten). The broth was cold and there was hardly any in the bowl, so we had to push down on the noodles and toppings to get any onto the spoon.

Bussssssssssssiiiiii !
This place was packed! Not just packed it is packed paxked ! The queue is extended to outside of the door.
Credit to the ramen really!!! Springy and hearty! And the broth was soooupppper nice and dense and the ingredients, the braided slice pork and the slightly runny eggs were perfect match with the broth and ramen !
They also have this bib thing where you can wear to prevent the juiciness of the ramen spread on your coat. Gimmick !
Overall nice food and hipster-​y environment

Good ramen. Has a nice spice to it and plenty of broth.
Service could use some work. They had us wait for 30 minutes, I got up and asked what was going in, then they informed me there was a mix up in the kitchen and our order was coming soon.
If someone had proactively said this, I would deal with it. but I saw 3 people that got there after we ordered get their food, so they had plenty of time to let us know. The whole thing just soured the experience.
The manager compd our appetizer which was nice, but I didn’t like that no one bothered to acknowledge the screw up before I had to go and ask.
I might give this place another try, but not if they are too busy.

Tried both the tonkatsu and t22 and really not that impressed. Their broth had a weird spice in it with a strange taste. Not that authentic compared to ramen I’ve had in Japan and in New York. Softshell crab was also passable. Pork croquettes were the only highlight of the night and were worth getting. I’d recommend going to Shoryu a couple blocks away if you want a better ramen experience. The wait time is about the same for both places, about 15 – 20 minutes for you to get seated. Shoryu has more of an Asian crowd whereas bone daddies has more of a hipster crowd with asian fusion style to it.

Not much more can be said that hasn’t been already about the ramen kings, bone daddies!
Arrived just after 6 on a Thursday, and pretty soon there was a queue out the door, as expected!
My friend and I nabbed seats by the front window (excellent people watching while dining) and stared with an order of the Korean chicken wings; they had a sweet and spicy sauce and were crispy and delicious! But messy, soooo messy!
We both had the tonkatsu ramen with the now famous pork bone broth. Rich, creamy and flavoursome, loaded with noodles, spring onion and a perfectly soft poached egg– ramen perfection! I did add a load of chilli to mine, so think next time I’ll order the spicy version and see how I get on!
We ended our meal with a selection of moochi ice creams. The green tea was good but slightly bitter, the raspberry fresh and fruity and the chocolate has a rich, mousse like quality to it.
Staff were friendly and the atmosphere was buzzing — yet another great spot in soho!

Maybe I’m spoiled for choice in NYC with ramen joints, but Bone Daddies really just did not do it for me. I got the classic Tonkotsu Ramen, and didn’t enjoy it enough to finish (and trust me — I eat a LOT). The broth was nice and thick, but lacked flavor, and the texture of the noodle wasn’t as chewy as I would have liked.
They did have this awesome brussel sprout appetizer though — the pomegranate seeds added a great kick to it, so an extra star for that! I would go if you’re looking for a quick meal but nothing worth going out of your way for.

Waking up from an evening of seeing London’s bars and clubs with some friends, two of us looked at each other and said Japanese food. I had bookmarked this place from the last time I was in London and didn’t make it here. Weekend lunch crowd equaled a short wait for the 4 of us, but we took the time to look over the menu and enjoy the ambiance.
One of us was skeptical because he is a true Ramen Nerd, in the end he felt content, not overjoyed, but satisfied. I had the T22 with extra noodles and that was pretty good, enough soup and ingredients to cover the extra noodles, the broth was flavorful, not intense. It wasn’t the mind-​blowing experience others would say, but I thought it was pretty good. I might stop by again next time I am in town, but than again there are a lot of good restaurants in London and SOHO.

A friend recommended this place to us as one of the best ramen places in London. However, he did warn us that Asian food in London does not compare to that of the Bay Area. That said, I can say that this place is hit-​or-​miss. Some dishes are amazing and some are just bland. For example, I ordered the kimchee ramen while the others ordered the tonkatsu ramen. My ramen was bursting with flavor and good, but the tonkatsu was the opposite. The people in my group complained that it was one of the worst that they had ever tried. There was no seasoning at all. They had to add soy sauce or black oil to spice it up a bit. Disappointing. With the appetizers, order the fried chicken and skip the pork and corn croquettes. Again, one was perfect while the other one needed more.
The restaurant is located close to Chinatown and I would have totally missed it if I walked by. The place is small so be prepared for a wait during meal times. The staff was very helpful and friendly. They had us come in from the rain and sit on stools until there was a table available.
Remember that compared to almost every other currency in the world, the London pound is pretty expensive so don’t expect this place to be cheap.

I really wanted to give this place 4 stars instead of 5, because I despise crowded places, stools, small table space and queues, and this Bone Daddies has all of the above.
That said, as soon as I’ve put food in my mouth I went to ramen heaven and back, and as my friend pointed out, I didn’t say a word for 20 minutes.
I’ve ordered the Tonkatsu (Tonkotsu? Tonk… whatever) ramen, and added the cock scratching because in all the pictures I saw of ramen from Bone Daddies I could spot these crispy bits on top and really wanted to know what they were and try them.
OH. MY. SWEET. BABY. DAY. IN. THE. LIFE.
Can I just go back there RIGHT NOW?
The 20h pork broth was so rich and creamy, it would have been delicious on its own. Like, even without the perfectly sliced thin pork, the flavourful noodles, the hard-​boiled eggs that kept a soft but not runny yolk, the soy sauce on the one side of the bowl, the spring onions, and all the other bits, including the scratching. Which were out of this world delicious.
I would love to say something more about the place itself, the hairband and bib they provide for mess-​free experience, the atmosphere, etc. But I have a parade of ramen soups dancing in front of my eyes and can’t think of anything else but going back there asap.
So if you’re anything like me (i.e. a fussy introverted mess) you’ll want to run away when you see the crowd, PLEASE BE PATIENT BECAUSE IT’S WORTH IT. I promise.
(Ps. Thank you Charlotte K. for being to me that one friend to take me here, as someone else did with you years ago. Let’s keep the tradition going eh?)

Excellent endroit pour y dîner (même tard) chaud et savoureux!
L’ambiance est jeune et décontractée. La musique (enfin …le son sortant des hauts-​parleurs) né présente par contre aucun intérêt.
Les deux tantanmen étaient excellents. En revanche, la variante «spicy»… Vous anesthésie le palais. So enjoy & beware!.. :-)

Voilà deux fois sur je me rends au Bone Daddies et c’est toujours un régal!
La spécialité de l’établissement? Le ramen.
Nous avons essayé le soy ramen, et les deux tatanmen.
Servis dans de grands bols, en quantité généreuse, vous apprécierez les saveurs des ingrédients soigneusement choisis.
Attention toutefois si vous êtes sensibles aux plats épicés!
La plupart des ramens proposés sur la carte sont plutôt forts, voire anesthésient le palais si l’on n’est pas habitué!!
Le soy né l’est absolument pas, mais pour les autres, il vaut mieux demander conseil aux serveurs qui sont très abordables et sympathiques.
Nous avons également testé l’artichaut qui est servi avec une sauce gingembre, crème et piment vert… Yummy!
Le crabe frit est délicieux, tout comme le poulet et les edamame.
L’ambiance est rock´n roll, les amateurs des plus classiques né seront pas déçus du choix des morceaux et du niveau sonore.
Le bone daddies accueille tout le monde, même sans réservation. Un fait rare à Londres!
À l’heure de pointe, la queue devant le restaurant est impressionnante, mais en vaut la peine!
Côté prix, étant donné la générosité des plats, ils né sont guère excessifs.
Une bonne adresse qui mérite un signet, puis un check in… Si vous avez du réseau!
À bon entendeur… :-)