After trying one of Bone Daddies restaurants – Flesh & Bun last year, I was destined to try another one of their different food havens dotted across London. With there being a queue extending outside at their first opening in Peter Street, Soho, which is a Ramen Bar, we walked to Old Compton Street to Shackfuyu.
Starting off as a pop up, it made it’s impression on the folk of London town so much that it became a permanent residency, serving Western-inspired Japanese dishes. You could almost say it’s Japanese soul food. Looking at the menu you can see much thought and effort has gone into the menu, they don’t over-do it with wide variety of dishes, these are carefully selected, and you can order a few as they are meant for sharing.
Shackfuyu like most of the Bone Daddies chains has a rock ‘n’ roll edge to it, with shiny tiles and brickwork and lots of small lights with a soundtrack to match. As you enter it feels smaller than it is, with seats round the bar when the back end of the restaurant with its booths and tables fill up.
Looking around to see what everyone else was eating, we decided on a main each and a few smaller plates so we could try as much as possible. The hot stone rice (£.8.50) was the larger, main dish chosen and it also came out first. Brought out as you would imagine in a hot bowl, the concoction of rice, beef and chilli with vegetables and sesame is literally steaming. It’s based on Korean bibimbap rice which is stirred at the table, as they do here also at Shackfuyu mixing the meat, veg and egg, but with a tasty sauce and a crunch from the sweetcorn in there too.
For the smaller dishes we opted for Korean fried chicken (£6) which is always going to be a winner. It came out as a portion of 3, so if there’s two of you there could be a fight over who gets the extra one, as these are so delicious. They have a sticky red coating dotted with sesames with a sour and chilli kick to them that will want you craving more.
The last small dish we chose was the seabass taco (£4) which were kind of small so it was hard to share, but we did manage as there was at least 6 bits of fried seabass each to enjoy. It came complete with tomatillo salsa like you would find in a Mexican restaurant. The seabass was cooked to perfection, crispy on the outside and the fish was soft and flaky, with spring onions and red onions chopped on top.
We washed these dishes down with a few glasses of prosecco, although there was a nice cocktail list too. Unfortunately we didn’t even have room for the desert which sounds and looks delicious, kinako French toast served with green tea ice cream. Definitely one for next time!
Where To Find: 14a Old Compton St, London, W1D 4TJ 02077347492 www.bonedaddies.com/restaurant/shackfuyu/