Bone Daddies Ramen, Soho

So I've been away on a few little jaunts here are there, just across to the Carribean (post to follow!), so I have a bit backlog of places that I have to share. Better get cracking!

It was a rainy, cold evening and after a long day at work, feeling a little under the weather, some quick comfort food was needed. Being in Soho, only one kind of food sprung to mind. Ramen. 

I love ramen and it's warming, filling properties. Having tried and tested - and loved - Tonkostu, it was now time to try Bone Daddies.

No queuing at about 7.30, (although I think one did form just after we went in) we were seated straight away at a little bar running around the restaurant. Loud and bustling, it was a fun atmosphere.

I started with some hot sake, infused with orange and cinnamon to flush away winter blues.

To start we had the most incredible sweet and sour ribs, with a deliciously mega spicy kick. Without a doubt the best thing we ate there. Does that bode well for the ramen?! We'll see….

So, the ramen. First up, the tonkotsu. In order to fairly test Bone Daddies against Tonkotsu I thought I had to get the same bowl.

Lesson learned. Don't let other people take the food pics. 

It was immediately apparent that the hand-pulled noodles are much much better at Tonkotsu. The pork broth after only a short while started to feel very heavy and thick, and as if you were eating a lot of the same. There was a faint, almost unpleasant taste hidden in the broth too, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what. 

I would not however have known any of this had I not previously been wowed by the tonkotsu bowl at Tonkotsu. I can remember distinctly being amazed by the flavours of pork in the broth at Tonkotsu, and not getting bored of it. Yes, it too was thick and heavy, but not in a way that weighed me down.

Really the star at Bone Daddies is the Tantanmen - or the 2 in this case as we wanted chicken, with extra cock scratchings, of course. It isn't traditional, like the tonkotsu, and by marching to the beat of their own drum they have created something wonderful. Here, they do not need to compete with anyone else. It was spicy, much lighter than the tonkotsu, not in any way unpleasant, crisp and interesting in the mouth with different textures... and before you know it you've finished the bowl!

I would return to Bone Daddies for that Tantanmen 2, and those ribs, but if I want a really really great bowl of traditional ramen, my mind will always think of Tonkotsu first.

bonedaddiesramen.com