Flesh & Buns, Covent Garden, London restaurant review

Flesh and Buns, the sister-restaurant of Soho ramen bar Bone Daddies, is a heck of a lot of fun.

Their menu reads like a most wanted list of the things I crave on a daily basis around mid-morning snack time.

Whilst sushi, tempura, ice cream sundaes, crème brûlée and doughnuts all put in an appearance, Flesh and Buns it is by name and nature.

The nucleus of the menu is Taiwanese Hirata buns. Pick your protein from a list of roast meat and fish, and stuff it into a cloud-light steamed bun along with pickles, sauce and salad. Then, repeat. 

It's great food for sharing too as long as you're not going to cross chopsticks with your fellow diners over the last piece of pig.

We visited Flesh & Buns before a trip to the theatre and so were able to take advantage of the excellent value express menu (3 courses for £19.50). 

To start, super-crisp tempura pumpkin were balanced with a potently citric yuzu mayo.

Excellent crispy rice comprised of sticky, fried cubes of rice topped with a finely diced, fragrant tuna tartare.

Spicy tuna rolls were delightfully fresh and clean tasting but lacked a little of the advertised punch of chilli.

Onto the headline act.

Crispy duck, tender with perfect skin, was accompanied by mildly pickled beetroot, and a light sour plum sauce.

Equally sublime piglet belly was paired with lightly pickled apple and a mustard miso.

Finally, meaty teriyaki salmon was matched with pickled cucumbers and a soy-based sauce.

Desserts included a facepack-esque black sesame crème brulee. Nutty, not too sweet, crisp-topped and balanced by a cleansing cherry sorbet, it was most definitely a success. But, I'm not sure it's quite a match for the classic recipe. 

Bone Daddies ice cream sundae was magnificent. Green tea ice cream, crisp honeycomb, toasted almonds, fresh berries, jelly cubes and cream were the building blocks for this mature twist on a childhood favourite. 

I loved Flesh and Buns. As well as the ace food, the atmospheric subterranean dining room and slick service deserve a mention. It's another winner for whenever you're in the West End and don't fancy a trip to the Angus Steakhouse.

The details:

Address - Flesh & Buns, 41 Earlham St, London WC2H 9LX

Telephone - 020 7632 9500

Web - http://www.fleshandbuns.com/