Bone Daddies - Peter St W1

I have eaten so much good food in the last week - on the high end it was at Hawksmoor, Air St (which by the way - rocks, so save up and go there people), on the rough 'n ready but freakin' delicious end was a Lucky Chip burger at the Feast street food thingy in Islington on Sunday evening but the meal that wins for me was a lunch I had (with some of the same disreputable work colleagues that accompanied me to Patty & Bun) at Bone Daddies in Peter St.  Peter St is that small, forgotten street that is the border of Berwick Street and "Porn Alley" and I struggle (up until recently) to remember anything that is or was there, other than a few doorways with the obligatory "Model" sign.  This area has definitely been snazzed up over the last few years (see my earlier Berwick St entry here on that topic) and whilst I often bemoan the relentless reality of gentrification I do love a lot about what has happened around this locale.  I am a big fan of Gosh! (call me a geek if you will) and Bone Daddies is a total winner so in my opinion, the gentrification of Peter St has been

 relentlessly positive.  I think there was maybe an Indonesian restaurant on the Bone Daddies site before, I really can't remember and to be honest I don't care - hooray for its demise, given the wonderful new tenant at No. 31 Peter St.  As with any place that is getting blogger buzz (and I must say it was Faerietale Foodie's tweet of her ramen bowl that got me there) Bone Daddies was packed by the time we got there for our Friday lunch but we managed to squeeze ourselves at the counter against the back wall.  Our waiter was a classic trippy, mellow Japanese hipster who was keen to get us to try some Japanese whiskey (we declined) but was totally cool man that we went for a juice instead.  We ordered what we found out is the standard order of all Bone Daddies newbies and no wonder - for starters we shared fried chicken and soft shell crabs - the latter came with an amazing green chilli ginger dipping sauce (seriously I am drooling remembering it).  These were two seriously good starters and set a high bar for the main event but oh boy did the Tonkotsu Ramen deliver.  The "20 hour pork bone broth" made all my problems disappear and filled me with an amazing sense of well-being - OK I know I sound like I ducked out the back for a doobie with our waiter

but seriously this was happiness in a bowl.  I know people swear by Jewish mama chicken soup as a fail-safe remedy for colds and flu but I reckon a bowl of this broth would do even better.  This bowl of joy also had spring onion,  pork and two halves of a perfectly boiled, dark yellow-yoked egg that looked like it had been soaked in soy.  I really can't come up with any more superlatives to describe this dish but I wish I could and I cannot wait to go back there - the issue for me will be ordering anything except exactly what I ate last week.  So next time you are browsing for stick mags in Walker's Court (Porn Alley's real name), clean up your act and go and get a revitalising bowl of tonkotsu at Bone Daddies instead, it's much better for the soul.

Patty & Bun - James St W1

A few months ago myself and a disreputable trio of blokes from work had a delicious burger at the Patty & Bun pop-up at the Endurance pub in Berwick St in Soho (and a few beers of course).  So it was super exciting to hear that the P&B crew were opening a permanent establishment in James St, just round the corner from St Christopher's Place (or near Selfridges for those unfamiliar with the area).  The same rag tag bunch and I went there for lunch today and as much as I am all for variation I couldn't go past the Ari Gold burger - beef patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickled onions, ketchup, smoky mayo (their wonderful secret sauce) on a perfectly toasted brioche bun.  Not surprisingly, given their name

 - the quality of the meat and the bun are top notch, in fact I would go so far as to say the bun is the best I have had, or at least on a par with Umami Burger in LA.  The burgers come wrapped in wax paper, accompanied by delicious "skin on chips" with rosemary salt - it's a rough 'n ready, all about the burger place and that's just how I like it.  I've tried all the fancy schmancy burgers but in the end make 'em dirty - ideally at Dirty Burger, MEATmarket or Patty & Bun.  I know there's lots of talk about the burger craze getting out of hand, "can London handle another burger joint..." etc but to be honest if they are this good - keep 'em coming.  I will personally guarantee to keep each and every one in business.