Ramen has been one of many trends to hit London this year and the latest play to offer it up to Londoners is Bone Daddies in Soho. Australian chef Ross Shonhan, former Head Chef of Zuma London and Nobu Dallas, is at the helm of this new opening and we caught up with him to find out more.
What made you decide to open up a Ramen bar now?
I have been obsessed with ramen for years and wanted to open something like this for almost as long.
Additionally one of my apprentice chefs from Zuma (Tom) who worked with me for years went to Japan to work. I saw him last year in Tokyo, asked him "what are you passionate about?" and he said "ramen". I told him to go and work in a ramen shop and we'd open a ramen bar when he came back. He's back now and has been waiting patiently for me to get it ready.
The place he worked at is called Nagi Ramen. The owner is a ramen master and they have several shops in Tokyo and have since expanded to Hong Kong.
Given that ramen's very much in vogue at the moment, what's unique about Bone Daddies?
Bone Daddies will be different to anything else I have encountered in my travels in a few ways.
Firstly, we will make more than one base stock. We are aiming to have Chicken, Pork and Fish but might just open with two. Then we will add others later for specials. Most Ramen-ya only have one stock and make several flavours from that.
We will offer creative ramen in addition to more common varieties seen in Japan. This is on a par with what is happening around the world, where even ramen chefs in Japan are mixing western ingredients with with ramen. It seems to be accepted that ramen can be played with because it is relatively new to Japan and there are already so many different varieties.
I want to do a ramen, for example, that is basically a ham and English pea ramen with stinging nettles and a crispy hock meat croquette to add multiple textures to the dish. Ultimatley, everything we do has to be delicious.
For the restaurant itself, we will have raised counter/bar style seating through the whole restaurant and with the rock and roll music I hope to create a relatively inexpensive Japanese restaurant that offers a good experience too. Add this to our slightly later licence than most other Soho restaurants and I hope we can get people in at 11-12:30 after the pubs close for a bowl of great noodles and another drink before heading home.
We will also have a different drink selection to most doing cocktails as well as "backyard style" infused sakes and Shochu. This is along with being the first restaurant outside of Japan to serve Asahi's "super creamy head" beer.
Ultimately I really want people to relax and have a good time with good music and tasty food and drink.
We've read that the logo and sound is inspired by Japanese rockabillies - can you tell us more about why you chose that?
The logo has been inspired by many things from Daruma-san (17th Century good luck charm), Eggs, the Discovery channel (I know - very random) to Rockabillies and Rock and Roll. I worked with the amazing people at The Council and it was a great process over a few months. It started off almost like a ramen therapy session me on a couch and them taking notes. From that we have this logo which I really love.
The music was a little different I wanted to create a casual space that wouldn't make people immediately think it was Japanese. So I decided on Rock and Roll partly because it's what I wanted to hear drinking beer and eating Ramen but also because I remember being in Osaka and seeing a rockabilly group dancing behind the castle. I thought it was great such a contrast and it sums up many of my Japanese experiences.
What can you tell us about the drinks on offer?
Drinks will be very Japan-led. There will be some fresh fruit juices and cocktails and then a large selection of Japanese whisky, sake and shochu for a small restaurant. We will do some cocktails and flavoured sakes and shochu, we will have three white and three red wines along with Asahi and some micro brewed beers.
But I want try to recreate something like the experience you get in a Japanese pub, which is not unlike a bar in America or here. So many people think if it's Japanese it needs to be quite formal and I want to shake that up a little because this is not always the case. I was in Kyoto once and invited to drink one night with a couple of men I just met and a Geisha. An amazing night but even this in the heart of Gion was not as formal as most Japanese restaurants here. Japanese people love to drink and have fun. I hope this place attracts expats too.
And finally, where in the world have you had the best ramen dish (and what was it)?
I once waited 2 hours in New York for a bowl that turned out to be average that was a shame...
But for the best ramen, a yatai stand in Hakata had great Tonkotsu and I went from Hiroshima for one night just for this style. I had a chicken ramen in Kyoto that was amazing but I have had so many great bowls of ramen hungover for breakfast, especially from a Tan Tan man that Tom took me to last year.
Bone Daddies opens November 2 at 30-31 Peter Street, London W1F 0AP. A soft launch is planned so watch this space for details and follow them on @bonedaddiesRbar.
