Josie Bones: we ate everything

We all know Chris Badenoch right? The bad boy beer guy who was runner-up on Masterchef series one. He’s the one that was chewed-up by the tabloids and spat out a love rat.

Now he’s a place of his own to, so to speak, chew-up rare breed animals and swallow, together with several hundred beers.
Josie Bones, his love child with Masterchef runner-up Julia Jenkins, has only a token page of wines to a telephone book of beers but surprisingly deviates enough from deep-fried pork to some pretty innovative salads and fish dishes to satisfy both vegetarians (okay, the pescatarian GF and her pork averse, jewish, accountant).

Garfish.

Typically, Badenoch takes one rare breed beast and slow cooks it. He then steam rolls it flat on Smith St and deep fries it. He then pokes out the bone marrow, and deep fries that too with Octopus.

It’s good rustic fare.

This is a temple to two things: beer and meat, especially pork. It’s a beer hall of a place that you’ll want to avoid if you dislike the sexualisation of rabbit carcases, as photographer Adrian Lander has done with the huge artwork pasted to the bare brick wall above the bar.

It’s a place you can drop into for a beer (try the black lager) and a snack of the deep fried skin of the day (I’ve tried pork and chicken to date),the aforementioned roll of marrow and octopus (so so), and, a bowl of deep fried school prawns.

I’ve visited three times and enjoyed each visit, especially the time with a man with a six-pack (not beer) known as Rory Kent when we ate THE WHOLE MENU. We just didn’t stop – onion bhajis, cured meats, quail, lamb tartare, Beeramiso and a variation of Eton Mess – and it was commented on later by our neigbouring diners, The Supper Club’s Con Christopoulos and the architect of his soon to open Vanuatu resort.

What your enjoyment depends upon is how you view Josie Bones. If you look at it through restaurant goggles as Larissa Dubecki probably did, scoring it 13/20, or perhaps blogger and my drinking palJess Ho, then you may be disappointed.

But if you look at it through beer goggles (as Jess Ho also did) you may have a different experience.

You see if you expect the polish and refinement of a high end restaurant you will be disappointed as a few things, at least in these early days of the place, are sometimes a little clumsy – the Scotch egg, for instance, I’ve seen across blogs and Twitter as both under and overcooked.

But think of it as a visit to a pub or beer hall you’ll find the food unexpectedly good (especially those of us scarred by eating at the Gasometer Hotel at the other end of the street).

Just watch out as I’ll probably be there.

Plenty of flavour for vegetarians.