Flesh & Buns by Bone Daddies review

Flesh & Buns is the newest venture from Ross Shonhan, the brains behind the brilliance that is Bone Daddies, one of London's finest Ramen noodle bars. Located in Seven Dials, Covent Garden, the restaurant is described as a Izakaya-style restaurant (a drinking den that serves food). Not surprisingly, the venue of the restaurant is at the basement of the Thomas Neal's Centre.

Naturally, the drinks menu, populated with choice of sake, whisky, shochu, beer, wine, champagne, cocktails and anything in between, is even more expensive than the food menu. Still this is not what I want to write about. In addition to the usual appetisers and starters (including sashimi), Flesh & Buns serves Chinese-style steamed buns (also known as hirata buns). These buns originated from China or Taiwan or Korea depending on who you speak to.

The buns served here are modeled after the Taiwanese version and made at a Chinese bakery in London so as they are more suited to the British palate. Still, the buns were mostly perfect, soft and chewy enough without getting too soggy and breaks when dipped. The buns also have the right balance between sweetness and saltiness.

Fleshy meaty fillings range from fried sole, grilled sea bass and crispy duck. We went for the flat iron steak and braised belly pork. In hindsight, eating steak with buns was a bit odd, even worse when all that meat was cooked rare and taste great on its own. The belly pork was a tad dry and lacks the juicy fat that makes all pork bellies a guilty pleasure, but the mustard miso sauce that accompanied it was yummy. Each fillings comes with two buns, which is a bit on the stingy side, so make sure you order extra buns.

Service was attentive, though a bit chaotic, though I expect this will improve. Seating comes in the form of more traditional tables and seats, as well as a long canteen style tall table. When we visited, the restaurant was relatively busy though it wasn't packed. Despite the number of empty seats available, we were initially seated directly next to another clienteles, which can be problematic once your sharing platters arrive.

Our dinner for two including drinks came out at slightly north of £50, which is on the pricey side considering our order of none-exotic drinks. The buns on the other hand were perfect, though I do not think the two buns per fillings is enough. Overall, we had a good meal and came away satisfied, but the fillings requires some work. Those delicious hirata buns deserves better.

7/10

Flesh & Buns
41 Earlham Street
Seven Dials WC2H 9LX
London
Tube: Covent Garden