Bob Bob Cité owner Leonid Shutov on 16-month delays, a £25 million build and why he's 'ignoring the City'

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Ailis Brennan25 April 2019

Leonid Shutov, owner of the highly anticipated Bob Bob Cité, has told the Standard that the new Leadenhall Building site will “absolutely ignore everything that is stereotypical of a City restaurant”.

The follow up to Soho's famously decadent Bob Bob Ricard will finally open its doors to the public on May 10 – after a 16-month delay and building costs of an estimated £25 million.

Design has moved away from the art deco style of the Soho spot, embracing the 21st century, with nods to mid-20th century design.

“Our biggest challenge was not to end up with a copy or a replica or a pastiche,” said Shutov, “but to create something that feels unlike anything else that you may have seen.”

The new dining rooms, created by interior design studio BradyWilliams in collaboration with Shutov, boast 25 bespoke chandeliers, 12.5 kilometres of mirror-polished steel trim and wall panels clad with Japanese bookbinding paper. Shutov said that the budget designated for Bob Bob Cité’s 48,000 hand-polished wall panelling bolts “would be comparable to what some restaurants will spend on the entire refurbishment.”

“It’s the sheer complexity of it, and the detail and the precision,” said Shutov, excusing the near year-and-a-half delay in opening, “It was worth taking the time to make it as perfect as we can.”

Cité will retain Ricard’s famous “Press For Champagne” buttons, albeit with a makeover. Rebranded “Presser pour Champagne” in a nod to the restaurant’s French brasserie-style menu, the new pushers now illuminate LED ticker tape that runs around the dining rooms, with the table numbers changing colour when a customer calls for more fizz.

“There was never really the intention of copying anything from [Bob Bob Ricard] at all" said Shutov, "but my love of Champagne hasn’t changed.”

In the kitchen is Michelin-starred executive chef Eric Chavot, who will serve up French comfort food, with classic dishes including escargots, veal blanquette and daube de boeuf Provençal. The restaurant will also serve fifty Armagnac vintages by the glass, with the oldest from 1888.

Shutov explained that taking the Bob Bob brand to the City did not change its dedication to leisure, and that they had not adapted their rationale for business meals. “[People said] ‘Ooh it’s the City, you’ll need whiteboards, you’ll need powerpoint projectors and plasma screens’ and we’re going ‘No! We’re a restaurant, not a boardroom’.”

Shutov also teased a possible expansion for Bob Bob Ricard: “There’s a few big things in the works but, knowing us, they’ll take a year or two or three.

“We have great ideas, great plans for Bob Bob Ricard, adding scale and excitement to it – it will be potentially something of the scale of [Bob Bob Cité].”

While plans for the expansion are still under wrap, Shutov ruled out a second Ricard: “Let me put it this way – there will not be two Bob Bob Ricards. You don’t need to worry about it all becoming a bit of a chain. There will only be the one.”

Bob Bob Cité

Opening date

  • May 10

Address

  • Level 3, Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, EC3V 4QT

For more information, visit bobbobcite.com

 

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