The 110-cover restaurant will combine the menus of Shonhan’s two existing restaurants – Bone Daddies Ramen Bar in Soho and Flesh & Buns in Covent Garden – serving both ramen dishes and hirata buns.
However, the new site will offer a distinct twist on the old favourites, with the buns served assembled, as opposed to the DIY-style in Flesh & Buns, and the ramen options extended to include new styles of Tonkotsu.
In a first for Bone Daddies, the menu will also include Japanese gyoza with fillings including chicken and prawn and pork and truffle, as well as snacks such as chashu pork, jalapeño and cheese croquettes. Desserts will include soy caramel filled chocolate fondant served with green tea ice cream.
Unique design
Situated on the first floor of the Whole Foods Market, Bone Daddies Kesington will have its own service and dining area, with a large open kitchen and cocktail bar.
It will feature the same loud rock’n'roll soundtrack and a similar décor to its Soho predecessor, with simple fixtures and fittings and industrial finishes such as steel, bare wood and corrugated iron.
“As far as the design goes, it is a Grade ll listed building with five metre high floor-to-ceiling windows, so we are trying to not cover that up, because it is stunning, but still carve out a space and make sure it is an experience which is different to the other things that are going on up there,” Shonhan said.
“The music is a key part of our brand so if we couldn’t play our music frankly we wouldn’t do it. But Whole Foods realise that music is part of our brand and that is what they like about it. We need to find a balance because I am not sure Kensington is quite like Soho, but at the same time, we want to push it out there and see what happens.”
The restaurant will open from 11am daily, serving lunch and dinner within store hours.
London expansion
Australian-born Shonhan was head chef at Noma and Zuma before opening Bone Daddies Ramen Bar in Soho in 2012 and Flesh & Buns in Covent Garden a year later – both of which have proved a big hit with critics and punters alike.
“I think anyone in Soho is doing okay but I think what we have done well is to make ramen accessible,” he explained. “We have called ourselves Bone Daddies and everything that can be in English is in English. We are not trying to educate people or recreate Japan."
The restaurateur is looking to secure three more London sites in Soho, Shoreditch and Bermondsey over the next six months, all of which are likely to open under the Bone Daddies brand. However, he said he has no intention of adopting a ‘cookie cutter’ approach to new openings.
“Every Bone Daddies that we do will look and feel a little bit different,” he said. “And each menu offer that we do will have unique things on it.”
Bone Daddies Kensington will open at Whole Foods Market, 63-97 Kensington High Street, The Barkers Building, London, W8 5SE