Bob Bob Ricard promises to push all your buttons.
As long as you return the favour.
Because yes, this is the brilliantly glitzy restaurant where each table is famously armed with a “Press for Champagne” button (and the result is that this place serves more bubbly than any other restaurant in the UK). It’s easily the swankiest-looking of Soho’s restaurants. But the fact is that Bob Bob Ricard has a lot more to offer than a (it has to be said, quite stylish) gimmick.
Because yes, this palace of decadence does not do restrained or austere. It does indulgence, and it does it extremely well. For starters, the space itself (parked just behind Carnaby Street) is jaw-droppingly, next-level glitzy. Elegantly uniformed staff float around the space responding to Champagne summons; gold and brass fittings glimmer in every corner; and wherever there isn’t gold, there’s marble. With its cobalt blue, high backed booth seating, curved tables jutting out from the walls and occasional, curtained windows, it seems almost like a stationary Orient Express.
The menu at Bob Bob Ricard is conceived as a love affair between English and Russian cuisine (with a brief fling in France); which, if you’re wondering, means an amuse-bouche of vodka shots (served at precisely -18°C) and oysters before we even get to the starters. For them, you’ll want to sink your teeth into the likes of truffled potato and mushroom vareniki (traditional Russian dumplings); a twice-baked Stinking Bishop cheese soufleé; and steak tartare topped with caviar.
The indulgence naturally continues with the main courses, where you can net a huge Beef Wellington for two to share; a classic Chicken Kyiv; a truffle & Champagne pie (reassuringly called ‘Humble Pie’); and the restaurant favourite, lobster mac & cheese. And as for brunch? Well, as if pulled from the pantheon of great brunch dishes, they’ve got an Eggs Benedict with black truffle grated onto it table-side; Eggs Royale with cold-smoked salmon & trout roe; and Eggs Florentine with 24 month aged Parmesan grated table-side, too.
The cocktail menu, meanwhile, is showing off with an oyster martini (with oyster-infused vodka, umami bitters & dark olive oil); a Regent Twist (mezcal, sherry syrup, Italicus, lemon & cranberry); and a Blenheim Bloom espresso martini, which puts honey tequila with coffee liqueur (and some more honey). Of course, if you’re feeling virtuous, there are alcohol free cocktails too, including a Red Velvet, with Everleaf, plum syrup, lemon, and grapefruit & ginger syrup.
NOTE: Bob Bob Ricard is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, 365 days a year. You can book a table right Bob Bob Ricard website.
PREVIOUS PERK: Nudge Members got 50% off all food from the a la carte menu and 50% off cocktails every Saturday & Sunday from 12pm-4pm for the whole of January.
Bob Bob Ricard Soho | 1 Upper James Street, W1F 9DF
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