Pros: Nice atmosphere Cool music Friendly staff Pork belly is great
Cons: Thin broth with weak taste Noodle is slightly soggy Music a bit loud
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The restaurant: Fun, interesting interior with cool rock music, love the songs but a bit loud to my liking, it does feels like a bar for that exciting mood. People have to talk Loud. The people are very friendly, we enjoyed the service. To my surprise they provide sesame grinder, garlic crusher and hair bands for people who don’t want their hair taste the food before your mouth, very thoughtful like a real Japanese shop. a big plus.
the Food: We didn’t have a big appetite at that moment but really wanna try out the original Tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen. The food came very quick, and it looks good. However we found that the thickness of the broth is too thin (like adding water in order to make more bowls) , to the point the taste is very light, it’s lighter than the threshold of “light soup” so I guess this is not up to standard. The Soft egg and the Pork belly is great, a bit fatty and very tender. We wish they could taste better if the soup is more thick and creamy. The Noodle itself is the thin type (which I love) but it’s just a bit soft and wet for my liking. The noodle tastes like the ones in Ippudo. I personally like the harder ones with more chewy texture, and less soggy ( rinse in cold water ) but it’s a matter of taste. Didn’t try the bao I think its not common in Japan, it is more like a Taiwanese staple food. I maybe wrong.
-Conclusion: We are in search of the best ramen in London. We Love a good bowl of ramen and even organized special trips to Japan to eat ramen in different Provences from north to south.
Unfortunately I can only give 3 stairs this time because the soul of the ramen is the broth and the noodle.
I am new to London so I have not tried everything yet, and I know this is a chain store and my experience / my bowl of noodle could be just one miss, which I hope is true. I cannot say about consistency since it’s the first time I am there. I hope we will go there another time and have a totally different experience!
As far as I feel, I think In general Shoryu ramen and Kanada-ya have better equality and consistency over different shops. (Thicker, creamier broth, less soggy noodle and can select the hardness...
Read moreI have included pics of every bowl of ramen I have tried at Bone Daddies - not just at James St but also the Soho location and Old Street location.
As you can tell from my profile, I don't live in London anymore but for the four years I was in London, Bone Daddies was my favourite ramen place ever. Before I left, I visited very often and hence have collected a lot of pictures of the same bowl of ramen! My favourite ramen bowl at BD is the yuzu tonkotsu. I tried it for the first time with my Japanese ex-colleague and she loved it a lot. Since then, my go-to order here is the yuzu tonkotsu with a side of padron peppers and pickled ginger (I love having it on the side because I am a huge ginger fan). I love the yuzu tonkotsu because it comes with their signature pork tonkotsu broth and the yuzu adds a beautiful citrus to cut through the fatty nature of the broth and fried chashu pork. I cannot recommend the little fried bits of chashu enough - they are crispy and fatty and fill your mouth will flavour bursts. Put in a ton of sesame like I do and the creamy texture will give you incentive to finish a full bowl of broth. Every rainy day in London is a good excuse to dine at Bone Daddies because of how hearty the meal will be.
Some of the other ramen I have tried here include some of their special bowls (monthly refresh), T22, Tantanmen 2 and Tonkotsu. All of their meat is so fresh and absolutely delicious. Please...
Read moreI love bone daddies and have been to so many in London. I tried this one for the first time and was honestly so disappointed. The food as always was so good, but the service was very lacking. There were about 4-5 waitresses who kept chit chatting around which is absolutely fine except for the fact that we had to wait 30 minutes to ask for our bill after finishing the food because they wouldn’t stop talking to each other. Every time I tried to make eye contact they’d look elsewhere. They’d walk past the tables and look the other way. At one point I asked for the bill and they said they’d get it but it never came. That was 10 more minutes of us raising hands and trying to make eye contact and them laughing and chatting and walking places but never looking in our direction or coming to check to see if we needed anything since we had been there for so long and the place wasn’t busy at all. I felt so ignored and I didn’t want to be rude but I honestly was angry. So when it came to it we asked another waitress who was being the bar and was super nice because she walked past us and looked our way as if she was making sure the tables were ok, which is what you’re supposed to do if you work in a restaurant. She was very nice and we managed to get our bill. Please make sure that your staff is tending to the tables because that experience was so so...
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