Bone Daddies was serving up steaming hot bowls of bone broth way before the health bloggers started flogging it as the elixir of life. But make no mistake: clean eating is not high on the agenda here. And that’s a good thing.
With branches in Soho and Kensington, Bone Daddies has brought its tried-and-tested formula of ramen with a rock ’n’ roll soundtrack to Old Street. There are old favourites: the seriously sticky Korean-fried chicken wings; the Tonkotsu ramen with 20-hour simmered pork bone broth and the T22, a soy ramen with chicken, a soft-boiled egg and their signature cock scratchings (that’s crispy chicken skin, FYI).
There are also some new dishes, including the deep-fried scallop, sweet potato and shiso skewers – which I could have eaten twice over – and the crispy duck aburamen with pickled padron peppers and roast corn. The latter is a bit of a departure from their usual style, in that it is served brothless, but the dish is so good that you won’t miss the broth.
Bone broth or not, even the most elegant eaters will struggle not to make a mess here, but they do supply bibs, hand-wipes and hairbands to stop you leaving with a ramen-splattered t-shirt. But don’t fret if you get a bit of splashback – it’s all part of the experience.