Bob Bob Ricard, Soho, London

This is a restaurant where I think it would be very hard not to give 5 stars.

I came here for a business meeting / dinner pretty early after work, so we were lucky to get a table without a booking.

For us it was cocktails, an amazing Beef wellington for 2, wine and coffee. Plus extra special waiter attention complete with the history and happenings of the place since it opened 3 years or so (it replaced Circus Circus)

Very cool, chi-chi and I look forward to being lucky enough to be invited back again. Really good.

instantly fell in love with bob bob ricard. BBR drips with the unique luxury of what stalin’s dining car must have been like… orient express meets KGB colonels on their night off, quaffing champagne and caviar. BBR is a triumph of style AND substance. the attention to detail here is very unusual. excellent food from a very tongue-in-cheek menu. good service and a gorgeous bar downstairs. red leather and black marble. the only let down is that last call is at 23:15.

AVOID this place. This had been a favourite on my sister’s for many years – a place she had brought many new customers to and a place she had recommended time and time again. However, after choosing to celebrate her 30th Birthday here she was left bitterley disappointed when the restaurant refused to serve our party with her favourite birthday cake. There was much to-ing and fro-ing with some waiters telling us the cake was about to be served and the candles were being lit, and others saying that the cake would not be served. All in all this dragged on for an hour or so until I had to go and find somebody to sort this out. The management were unhelpful, unapologetic and rude stating that for policy reasons they would not serve the cake and kept giving us practised one liners with no human element whatsoever.

Needless to say, the finale to the party was ruined. The staff were impeccably unhelpful and nobody offered any kind of apology or compensation for the hurt caused.

When we posted this one their Facebook page somebody quickly deleted our remarks.

All in all – do not go to this restaurant. It is not what it used to be.

i found this place a little poncey and a bit overpriced. the owner (bob) seemed most concerned about the table behind us and not “normal” people like us. the food was ok but overpriced for what was served. i’ve had tastier meals for less. the atmosphere is ok but a little pretentious. don’t think we will return

I hovered between 4 and 5 stars for this….this really isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it is mine.

I love the Soviet style of the place (it’s Soviet, not Orient Express, and that’s me talking as a designer.) When I say Soviet, I mean a restaurant in some Palace of something or other, as opposed to a concrete worker’s bar. It’s fabulous. Think of Stalin’s cabin on the Tran-Siberian railway.

The food is incredibly tongue in cheek. I had the Prawn Cocktail for starters and the Knickerbockerglory for desert, for example. Both were neither typical nor standard, but an incredibly glorified version of the two. But the main course, oh, the main course of beef ongelet was amazing.

I came with my ex on my birthday. He’s a veggie, and was also satisfied. I don’t think there is anywhere quite like it. As I said, it’s not to everyone’s taste, but it’s certainly to mine.

Why so many food bloggers and (some) critics think this restaurant is any good is totally beyond me. This is the most preposterous, stupidly expensive pile of pretentious nonsense in the whole of London. There's no doubting the effort that has gone into the hilarious décor, reminiscent of the Orient Express in the 1930s, and the attention to detail in all the fittings, and the comfort and privacy of the booths. But the food is so gut-wrenchingly bad, pointless and random, and so outrageously expensive for what it is, served by sneering, half-witted waiters, that this place should be closed for offences to basic decency. I am baffled, just baffled, that this moronic establishment is popular and well-regarded.

What a great concept! Exquisite service and the food is not shabby either. Love the Champagne button...

The atmosphere, to begin with, is beautiful. Nice booths, cozy, and great lighting. Then there were the staff. Attentive, but not overly so, friendly.

The cocktails were delicious (a little small for my thirsty tongue). The food is great and reasonably priced. I did not have a starter so cannot comment on those but my mains - pig cheeks with carrots and a nice portion of mash potato - was spot on. The cheeks were tender, almost melt in your mouth. My partner had the special cottage pie which I had a small bite of and was tasty.

We didn't order dessert but a friend who was with us did, she had the trio of creme brulee. It looked good and she seemed quite pleased.

Will definitely be back!

Imagine, if you will, walking into an end-of-the-world Wiemar cabaret, a bright salon on the eve of a revolution. The air rich with decadence and possibility, and the clear whiff of luxury.

That’s how it felt, dining in the idiosyncratic and timeless BobBobRicard. The Wonkerish “press for champagne” button, the Pullman booths, the truffle, champagne and caviar laden menu. And of course there’s Leonid (aka Bob) leaning rakishly against our green leather booth. “Champagne?” he said, “after all, it is Wednesday.”

I love this sort of almost-too-luxurious, over the top place, all green leather, dark wood and art deco tiles, like some glam and stylish Al Capone speakeasy transported to a twenties Moscow back alley.

My chosen starter was a beautifully prepared venison tartar. The seasoning was spot on with no Worcestershire or Tabasco needed. Unctuous, smooth, meaty with a strong, but not overwhelming taste of deer. I could have had this for starter, main and dessert. Hell, i could’ve scoffed this bambi for elevensies and been happy.

Quails eggs and truffles showed deft handling of strong flavours. Instead of overwhelming the creamy eggs, the truffle added an intense bouquet of earthy richness. And the prawn cocktail was a pitch perfect rendition of the fifties classic. Big juicy pink prawns hung like punch glasses around a bowl.

Roast leg of lamb was tasty, a classic example of well sourced meat, cooked simply and brilliantly. This was actually as good as my mum’s lamb, which is not something I’ve ever been able to say of any restaurant roast lamb.

Veal Holstein was flawlessly executed, with a wee little quail’s egg fried and laid atop the golden crispy crunchy plate of tender cow. This was good stuff. And it came with smooth, earthy truffled mash, and a hidden pool of seret sauce...shhhhh.

And the pudding – oh my God the pudding. A masterstroke of menu choosing here, I went for the comparitively plain sounding salted caramel ice cream with oh, some other flavours. Spooned into my mouth after a shot of frozen vodka, the sweet-savoury tang made my toes curl and squeezed a little jig of pleasure out of my tapping feet.

So, BobBobRicard. Big, bold and somehow still well balanced. Not for a daily visits, it’d tarnish the allure. But when the world’s crashing down around my ears, this is the place where I’ll be partying. Going down, all hands on the champagne bottle.

A Soho-centric designer diner dishing classy comfort with Anglo-Russian panache? I love Bob Bob Ricard and echo the sentiments of all the other glowing reviews and scratch my puzzled noggin at some of the complaints I've read in some of the less than pleased reviews.

There's something about this place that reminds me of going out in New York or making a pit stop at a classic roadside diner in New Jersey. Attentive service, a no-fuss but lengthy menu, great booze, reasonable prices, terrible cozy booths and the art deco/mid century modern swank ...

All that in middle of London

Geez ... it makes the bland, corporate coffee shop I'm sitting in right now seem even blander and drabber and almost an insult to my tastes and senses.

do not go there for brunch! despite great service and lush surrounds - the scrambled eggs were watery, bacon burnt and pancakes dry and clearly not fresh. For £12 - forget it. As my friend said - even Mackers is 100% better food.

please also see
http://hungryinlondon.com/2010/07/bob-bob-ricard-soho/

Food and Wine Blogger dinners are a great opportunity to meet and socialise with other food bloggers and enjoy good value food in interesting restaurants (thank you Niamh for organising!). This time it took place at Bob Bob Ricards in Soho.

Bob Bob Ricard is a super stylish and decadent, Russian themed restaurant with – very importantly – a pink “champagne emergency button” on each table; the evening was off to a promising start! It indeed commenced very well with the BBR signature cocktail – a delicious rhubarb gin & tonic (7.5). In fact I have to say that all the drinks to come were delightful.

However, I personally was not convinced about the food. After having read all these enthusiastic reviews out there and when considering the clearly higher than average prices, I would have expected more. For me, the food lacked finesse and sophistication and was in general confused.

The first 2 courses were to be enjoyed together with chilled (-18 degrees) vodka (very nice vodka indeed: Vodka Imperia by Russian Standard (4.75) and Vodka Kauffman Special Selected Vintage 2006 (7.50) paired to the respective dishes).

We were explained exactly how first to sip the ice cold vodka, immediately followed by a some food – this did add an interesting aspect to the whole experience. However, I still did not particularly like the ox tongue in jelly with horseradish (7.50) and neither was I very convinced about the second starter. I mean it was not bad, Russian salad with fresh shavings of truffles and some thin toast on the side just seemed a bit crude and did not quite do it for me. I think I have discovered for myself that I am not keen on the combination of mayonnaise and truffles.

I have to say that I found the main dish hideous. The whole concept of veal holstein (21.50) seems somehow wrong in general and sadly also seemed wrong at Bob Bob Ricard:

A lovely veal escalope in bread crumbs (basically a Wiener Schnitzel), very nice by itself, disappeared in an amalgamation of random flavours: it was lying on top of mashed potatoes. the potatoes were seasoned with truffle oil. then there was the quail egg on top of the veal. and some anchovies and capers.some crispy bacon on the side, and some tomatoes. Did I forget anything? Oh yes, the secret sauce…. a major culinary confusion, I just think very often less is more…

The dessert Chocolate Glory (8.74) was fun.It basically looked like a a gargantuan Christmas ornament. Hot chocolate sauce was poured on top and revealed an inside of Chocolate mousse and brownie as well as some fruit jelly. Even though I actually quite enjoyed it, I again thought there were just too many different parts randomly combined. Have I mentioned that I am a firm believer in less is more?

I had a lovely evening, I met nice and interesting people, I liked the atmosphere, the style and the booze and would full-heartedly recommend Bob Bob Ricard for drinks in a pleasant and different atmosphere.

However, for me the food was a failure

For pictures of the food I refer you to An American Cupcake in London (they site to follow if you love baking).

(We got served a set menu for 40 pounds including drinks – I have however indicated the prices as they appear in the normal menu.)

Full review and photos at http://www.thehappinessprojectlondon.wordpress.com

Inside its gorgeous – you sit in comfy private booths surrounded by brass rails and little curtains - very Orient Express with great lighting and modern touches too. For a Saturday it was super quiet but that may have been due to the footie.

I’d love to come back and try some vodka and Zakuski (things like salmon roe on quail’s egg and Russian herring) which reminds me of an amazing Latvian meal I had round at my friend G’s flat in Paris where we drank enough home-made vodka to make our hair curl, but woke up hangover-less and happy – these Eastern types know a thing or two about having a good time. But instead we plumped for starters and mains. First things first, you must start with cocktails – an amazing Rhubarb G&T and EL G had a refreshing BBR Botanical.

For starters, El G had cured orkney beef and celeriac salad with blueberries and hazelnuts and I had the potted shrimp with baby watercress – like everything we ate that night I loved the interesting flavour combinations which were perfectly balanced - both were really tasty.

I heard the chateaubriand was amazing but at £32 it was a bit out of our price range, so I ordered the veal holstein with anchovies, a quail’s egg, truffle mash and secret sauce which was beautiful – amazingly well cooked, really light and incredible textures and flavours. El G had the chicken kiev (well surely it would be authentic here?) with sweetcorn mash which again was perfectly cooked and tasty. We washed this all down with a lovely bottle of chablis (£35). We were impressed at the lack of giant mark ups in the wine - not that we could afford the more expensive bottles, but the wine list shows how much other restos charged for the same bottle (often double).

We finished off by sharing a plate of cheese with the most creamy brie I’ve ever had and a glass or merlot and port, followed by home-made chocolate truffles and coffee. We felt incredibly spoiled and left really happy after 3 hours of totally unrushed but great service which for me is the sign of a great meal. The bill came to £170 or £85 each so it ain’t cheap but it was a wonderfully different, luxurious treat and I’m definitely coming back!

Full review and photos at www.grumblinggourmet.com

The burger at Bob Bob Ricard is the reason that exercise exists. Without that, you're lost. Sadly, I appear to be losing... though if I thought that the reward was a guilt free burger at BBR then I'd be spending a lot more time on the rowing machine.
There's a limited menu, mainly classic bistro dishes intermingled with a handful of left field caviar based choices (no doubt a small reminder of home for the Russian owner).

The decor wouldn't be out of place in a top end French railway buffet (assuming that said buffet were decorated with beautiful blue leather seating and staffed by men in salmon pink jackets). The staff were attentive and friendly and while I had to ask twice for the bill, I wasn't exactly in a rush, and could quit happily have sat there all day.

Starting with a sharp yet sweet pink grapefruit mimosa, I eagerly awaited my meat patty fix.

I LOVE Bob Bob Ricard. The rhubarb G&T is to die for, the staff are lovely, and the whole place is pure art deco heaven. The bar downstairs is a bit of a hidden gem - it's like being on the Orient Express in the 1930s, just tuck yourself away in one of the booths with a few of your closest pals and drink the night away (although only until 10pm). Incredibly glamorous, I can't wait to go back.
Oh, and the afternoon tea is pretty fabulous too.

For photos see Greedy Diva @ http://greedydiva.blogspot.com/2010/02/bob-bob-ricard-bob...

Bob Bob Ricard is fun. Lots of fun. A whole big bucket of jumping castle fun. I will declare my heart on my sleeve from the outset. I love Bob Bob (real name Leonid). I love Ricard (real name Richard). And I love vodka (real name vodka).

Sure, BBR fed me free shots of vodka all night. But, I'm Australian - it takes a lot before the beer goggles (or vodka goggles, as the case may be) take effect on us.

I was not actually expecting to like BBR quite so much. It's glitzy, extravagant and over-the-top in every way - so often a warning flag that there's a bit of style over substance going on. But I managed to bag a place along with a table full of other bloggers to Bob's Vintage Vodka tasting in mid February, so I thought I'd give it a fair shot (pun intentional).

Naturally, this was not your average dining experience - unless you habitually shoot 8 shots of vodka with your meal - and our every whim was entertained by the fabulous owners who dined and drank with us all evening. I haven't yet dined at BBR incognito, but plan to go back based on my positive experience thus far - so this is not a critique of BBR so much as an enthusiastic rant about their fabulous event at which I was a paid for guest. And I must declare another interest - I'm a vodka girl from way back. However, my vodka appreciation has always been more in the nature of late night mindless enthusiasm, often involving a martini glass, so I was interested to hear some of the theory behind the madness.

One does not enter the world of BBR without noticing the interior. It's glammed up, eccentric, flamboyant and quirky, from the gold fittings and green booths, to the marble and leather, and the much spoken of "Press Here for Champagne" buzzers. The intention is to be something of a morning til late "Wolseley style" brasserie. I found it much like stepping into a scene from Alice In Wonderland. This is not a place for cynics, but walk in with an open mind and you might end up enjoying yourself as much as I did.

Despite appearances, BBR specialises in old fashioned, posh(ish) British fare, with the frequent Russian twist.

We kicked off proceedings with the BBR Signature Pink Rhubarb Gin & Tonic, which was lovely and refreshing and intended to sum up the ethos - fun, British and extra pink.

Then the real business began.

First up, the Vodka Kauffman Special Selected Vintage 2006 (RRP around £70), paired with jellied ox tongue with creamed horseradish. This was my favourite vodka of the night, and one of my favourite courses. The ox tongue was prettily presented and the bite of the horseradish cut through the delicate aspic and meat beautifully.

The Kauffman Special is a wheat vodka made from a single harvest in a vintage year - soft and pure, it's the lack of flavour that makes a good vodka (signalling less impurities and more thorough distillation and filtering, sometimes involving silver or quartz). The less you can taste, the better it is.

This concept is one that's tricky for the hardened wine drinker to get one's head around. Nonetheless, the message was that the vodka clears the palate, warms the soul, and is to be followed by a mouthful-of-food chaser to enhance the food's flavour. It didn't always for me, although it certainly cleansed the palate. In any case, I enjoyed the whole ceremonial aspect of shooting from a small, kitschy vodka glass before tasting my food and I'm seriously contemplating introducing the ritual around the home kitchen table.

Our remaining courses proceeded as follows:

The Vodka Kauffman Private Collection Luxury Vintage 2003 (RRP around £140) served with caviar, blinis and sour cream. My heartfelt love of blinis is no secret.

Intermission bites: Wafer thin cured Orkney beef with a celeriac salad, fresh blueberries and roasted hazelnuts; pickled beetroot and goat's cheese salad with fresh mint; potted shrimp; and a delicious rabbit, foie gras and date terrine.

Next was the Russian Standard Vodka (popular in Russia, and retails here for around £15) served with Russian salt-cured herring, raw onion rings and new potatoes. The food was delicious. The vodka tasted like vodka.

Imperia by Russian Standard was served with salmon roe on hard boiled quail's egg.

The Beluga (our first malt based vodka for the evening) was paired with quail's egg mayonnaise with anchovies. Again, a surprisingly tasty combo.

The Vodka Beluga Gold Line (another malt based vodka) was paired with some scrumptiously moreish meat pelmeni (Russian dumplings consisting of pork, beef and chopped onions - delicious with either vinegar or sour cream).

We finished up the tasting with 2 Stolichnaya vodkas - the Vodka Stolichnaya Gold served with salo on rye bread (lard - not my thing, but was rapturously devoured by lard loving Lizzie) and the Vodka Elite served with malosol cucumbers. These were the vodkas with the most impurities, to be scoffed at by enlightened Russian vodka drinkers everywhere.

Supper consisted of beef wellington, 28 day aged Aberdeenshire Longhorn Scotch beef with truffle gravy (my least favourite course of the evening, but others were happy to take over the spoils), boiled potatoes, spring greens, peas and carrots.

I finished off with a gorgeous Knickerbocker Glory (yes, I'm so sophisticated, but just look at it! Yuh).

For the traditionalist, BBR also serves up wine of course and has a refreshing pricing policy - bottles are marked up by up to a maximum of £50 above the retail price on the most expensive bottles, and in house comparison charts show their prices to compare favourably to other restaurants around town.

BBR is super fun, as I expected it would be. Part mad house, part serious and sophisticated, I also loved the generous and attentive service, the wonderland setting and the food far exceeded my expectations. Thanks to our generous hosts for a fabulous evening and an extensive crash course in vodka - a drink for which I've always held quite the soft spot. Hiccup.

(PS. I also recommend to some friends recently to go in and try the burger - they LOVED it).

Many thanks to Qype for inviting me along to the vodka tasting event here. Having heard great things of the art deco interior, 'press for champagne' buttons and famous burgers, I'd been itching to go for ages.

First up I have to comment on the decor. It's an art deco masterpiece, all green and amber glass, mirrors, mixed woods, dark romantic lighting and a touch of the members club. You'll know instantly if you love it or not - but rest assured there's nothing else like it in London.

Seated in the private dining area off from the diner-goes-glam main restaurant, we were greeted with the amazing rhubard gin and tonics (you MUST have one if you go) and then worked our way through a menu of various Russian style canapes to go with our vodkas. Some weren't really my kind of thing; I wasn't keen on the jellied ox tongue, salmon roe on quails eggs and goats cheese with beetroot. Others - scallops with black pudding (has someone been watching Masterchef?), salted cucumber and potted shrimp I enjoyed a lot more. The general rule seemed to be that salt ruled, because it works so well with the clean flavour of vodka. I oversalt everything so this didn't bother me, but bear it in mind if you don't like it!

Though the burger is - and probably will always be - the bestseller, I really recommend the meat Pelmeni, a kind of Russian take on the dumpling / dim sum. Served with sour cream and white vinegar, they were a huge hit with our group - perhaps because their dense stodginess soaked up the £15 a shot vodka we were tasting!

Puddings were also gorgeous - I went for chocolate fondant with pistachio ice cream, which was gorgeous. The salted caramel ice-cream seemed to be a winner too.

I hate to do this, especially as I had really high hopes for this place (apologies to everyone who's gotten really excited from reading the reviews directly below), but I had a really bad time here two nights ago. The staff, admittedly, were really friendly, but trivial mistakes like completely forgetting to bring us the wine we had ordered meant that we left with a fairly bad impression of them. (It was a relatively quiet night, so they should have had time to run to the fridge.)

The restaurant's design is fun and it is suitably cosy on a chilly night, but does anyone else think that the green leather banquettes are reminiscent of the dodgy Aberdeen Angus restaurant down the road? Before you accuse me of pedantry, however, I should say that it's the food that I had the real problem with. Whilst their fish soup was decent, simple dishes such as scotch eggs and a burger were poorly done and simply not worth finishing. Given the other reviews on this site I feel that I've missed out on something spectacular, but I really wouldn't want to eat there again.

Perhaps we ordered the wrong things, perhaps we went on a bad night, but we left the restaurant with the distinct feeling that this Bob wasn't worth ours.

It says a lot about this sumptuous Soho restaurant that there are buttons on the walls inviting diners to "press for champagne". What it says, specifically, is Wow. Invited to a tasting by the good people at Qype, our group were treated on arrival to a deliciously delicate rhubarb gin & tonic, followed by a selection of fine Russian vodkas, punctuated with some robust Russian snacks to help us stay focused. If I were advising general visitors (or at least those who would flinch from paying £15 for a pour of the admittedly smooth Kauffman Private Collection Luxury Vintage), I'd strongly recommend the Russian Standard Imperia at a very reasonable four-pounds-something a shot, accompanied by a plate of meat pelmeni (£12.50), which are best described as dumplings for kings (pairing well with, er, vodka). For the less adventurous, but equally demanding, I hear their burgers are a triumph. Service at this stylish Anglo-Russian eatery-cum-vodkary is as impeccable as the aqua upholstery is opulent. And if you're still not satisfied, just press the button.

Update Seems only right that I update my review after the event on Sunday, and I'm more than happy to. Because BBR seems to have gotten even better since I went not long after they first opened. And they're really really good now.

The private room is stunning (and you absolutely have to nose about in the bathrooms) and the services is impeccable. Am I ever going to order salmon roe again? Nope. Will you find my in the bar drinking more rhubarb gin 'n' tonics than is good for me? Yes. Even that's got better since my review last year. I love it here. Wish I had an excuse to come back more often.

*

Oh my goodness I've died and gone to Art Deco heaven.

This. Place. Rules.

Seriously, it's one of the best restaurants I've been to in London. I came here last night for dinner and we had such a lovely time. The meal was fantastic and the service was second to none.

They've got a bar downstairs, but that wasn't open. Despite us initially not wanting dinner, they were happy to let us sit in the restaurant and have drinks. but, of course, we ended up eating anyway.

It's not cheap here. Not at all. In fact, with extras and sides and champagne and stuff I imagine your bill could easily shoot through the roof. But, a cheeseburger was an acceptable £12.50. Yes, it's a lot. But it was the best cheeseburger I've had and my friend agreed. Most mains will set you back about £20.

The drinks are fab. Although I wasn't a big fan of my Rhubarb gin and tonic - not enough rhubarb in it and it comes in a teeny tiny glass. but the wine was great.

It's the service and decor that makes this place stand out. Toasters on the tables at breakfase. A button to push if you want champagne (soooooo close to pressing it just for fun). They've got the art deco thing bang on. Stunning bathrooms.

The service was just the right side of attentive. but only just. We all agreed that had they been any nicer, it would have been irritating. But we were charmed, fed, watered and left happy and a bit in love with the place. It was quiet, and I think it would be much nicer for breakfast, but the menu is a bit all over place so I imagine it's still trying to work out its niche.

Cocktails, wine, dinner etc and we only spent £25 per head with service. Worth every penny.