Shackfuyu

Japanese

14A Old Compton St, W1D 4TJ

££

Shackfuyu is sister restaurant to the infamous ramen superchain: Bone Daddies. The concept of the whole franchise is a rock’n’roll take on Japanese cuisine – taking it from snotty and exclusive to fun and accessible. Whilst the restaurant may get buzzy and the crowd rowdy the later you get into the evening, the food does not suffer as a result. This easy-going, homegrown feel has led to 8 restaurants and two sister restaurants opening since their humble beginnings in 2012. Shackfuyu was originally intended as a pop-up, but after popular demand it found itself a permanent home in the heart of Soho. It is inspired by Japanese Yosoku food, which is a style of Japanese cooking influenced by the West. Traditional Japanese is not what you’ll find here, instead you’ll need to open your mind to a wealth of different cuisines fused together to create memorable moments of flavourful bliss. After a few recommendations, my best friend booked Shackfuyu as her birthday meal for 6 of us, we were guided to our round table of 6 – which was perfect for conversation (I always hate long rectangle tables that mean you only get to talk to the people immediately next to you).

I ordered a bottle of the Cab Sav for Tom and I to share which came in at a very reasonable £20.50. To start, I tried the Chicken Wings (£7.75) and Prawn Toast (£10.5). Following that, I went for the Salmon Tacos (£8.25) and Beef Fillet Tail (£16.75) whilst Tom went for the Pulled Lamb Bun (£12.75) and Iberico Pork Pluma (£20.75). We ordered a Kimchi Rice (£9.5) to share between 3 as a side too. The Chicken Wings were good – they were large, encased by a crispy batter and covered in sweet spicy sauce. I say good and not great because I’ve had nicer sauces – in my opinion this sauce tasted too tomatoey, almost like a Heinz take on Korean wings, and wasn’t as sticky as I usually like. The Prawn Toast was not at all what I was expecting: for £10.5 it was a pretty small portion and was more like a small bun than the crispy, sesame, deep-fried goodness I’m used to. It is described on the menu to be masquerading as okonomiyaki (a Japanese fritter-like pancake) and whilst this is original, I didn’t rate the flavour as much. Think heavily fishy; beyond prawn and more like smoked haddock.

The Salmon Taco’s were nice, cubes of sashimi in a hard-shell with smashed avocado and pickled red onion. It was fresh and tangy, with a great combination of textures. Tom’s lamb bun, however, was the real deal. It came in a piping hot bowl on its own, complete with a side plate with the bao buns and bits and pieces to build yourself – including kimchi and cucumber pickle. I had a small bite of the lamb and it was juicy, fragrant, rich. The cucumber and kimchi were the perfect thing to balance the indulgence of the meat and the portion size was massive. This must have been one of the best orders of the evening. Food envy was high.

Onto the finale which I had been drooling over all week leading up. After seeing pictures of the incredibly rare beef coupled with a rich golden hollandaise, I knew that this was going to be something special. Three of us on the table ordered this dish, and whilst two of the three were just rare enough, mine was painfully overdone– so much so that we had to send it back and get a new one (something I literally never do because I’m way too much of an awkward Brit, so Tom did it for me). The waitress happily obliged, and my beef was with me again within 15 minutes, so no biggie. The second time around the beef had a nice charred flavour and was rare, however the hollandaise sauce was a frothy afterthought, there was a measly puddle of it which didn’t compare to the thick, rich, opaque version pictured online.

Whilst my meat was a little disappointing, Tom had once again smashed his: the Iberico pork was bursting with flavour and had a lovely generous portion of black pepper miso with it. It was quite fatty, but because the meat was so tender, this was more of a melt in your mouth experience than a chewing for days one. By the time we had finished our big plates, the rice side still hadn’t arrived – pretty annoying as we ordered this as an accompaniment to the meat rather than a dish on its own. We enquired with the waiter who informed us that there had been a mix up – the kimchi rice had been mistakenly delivered to another table. He offered us their rice instead – a chilli beef rice free of charge, which always sweetens the deal.

I don’t know if free food just generally tastes way better, but this rice was seriously good shit. It arrives in a hot stone bowl with mushroom, sweetcorn, carrot, spring onion and pulled beef. On top was a raw egg yolk that we stirred into the boiling hot food, so it just slightly cooked and made a lovely glaze over the whole thing. The flavours were seriously popping, a salty, garlicky, slightly sweet finish. I wish I had ordered one of these for myself, it was easily the best thing we ate all evening. Finishing up we ordered a one between two portion of the Kinako French Toast (£7.5) which was tasty but incredibly overhyped in my opinion. The bread was dense and sweet, and I’m always a fan of matcha ice cream – but to have this as a defining feature and infamous desert I think is a bit strong. They did, however, happily oblige when I asked them to stick a candle in one of them so we could awkwardly sing Asta a happy birthday along with the whole restaurant. It’s not really a birthday without a bit of humiliation.

Overall, Shackfuyu was good. Some of the dishes were stand-out: such as the rice, the lamb buns and the iberico pork. Unfortunately, none of those orders were mine… The beef fillet tail was underwhelming, as was the desert. And whilst I commend the prawn toast for its originality, it was no where near as good as the real thing. The staff were very accommodating, although there were a couple of hiccups, none of these were unforgiveable and the restaurant atmosphere was a nice place to be. Ultimately I think Shackfuyu is a good staple restaurant to have in town, but doesn’t quite live up to the destination it’s cracked up to be.

OVERALL RATING: ****

https://bonedaddies.com/shack-fuyu-menu/