Preparing the trip to London, we wanted to have a nice dinner and we found out this place called Bob Bob Ricard. I have to admit that at first we wanted to eat in one of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants, but there was no reservation available. Reviews of Bob Bob Ricard were good and after looking at the menu, we decided that it would be the place to go. For sure, this restaurant is fancy and pricey, but it was our treat on our London trip. So we dressed up and ended up in Soho, in this art deco restaurant. The place was big for sure with an interesting decor. Downstairs, they had an impressive wine cellar.
We sat at a booth and immediately noticed the button to call for champagne. But no, I did not press it...
We looked at the mouth watering menu and saw that they served a beef Wellington for 2. We always wanted to try it, as it is always on the menu on Hell's Kitchen with Gordon Ramsey and we never had the opportunity to try. Well, this is a British dish and we were in a nice restaurant in London, so we were thinking that they probably made it well...They told us that it would take 45 minutes to cook, but we were ok with that!
So, they proposed to bring some bread.
It was very good and crispy, served with some French butter (beurre d'Isigny). In fact I mentioned the bread, because we discovered that it was not free...Pretty interesting as usually you do not pay for bread when you eat in a restaurant!!!
So, then came the beef Wellington!
The presentation was spectacular! They brought it to us on a wooden plank before slicing it. And I can tell you that we were right to skip the appetizers! It was huge!
They served us a nice slice and put some juice on it. The meat was cooked medium rare (the temperature of the meat depends on how long the puff pastry needs to cook). The crust was crispy and buttery and there was a phenomenal layer between the pastry and the meat, that was made of foie gras, mushroom and truffles. I could not taste the truffles, but it was delicious! And the meat was very tender (it was a 28 days aged filet of Aberdeenshire Scotch beef)!
With the beef Wellington, we ordered some truffled mash potatoes (yes, again mash...):
The portion was definitely small and it was too bad as the mash was fantastic: the truffle taste really came through! It was a great side dish for the beef!
Of course, we could not leave without having dessert...We decided to go for the BBR signature Chocolate Glory.
It was a sphere made of chocolate Jivara mousse, chocolate brownie, meringue and passion fruit jelly. They poured some hot chocolate sauce on top of it...This was awesome! Not too sweet with lots of different flavors from the different components! It is definitely a dessert I would recommend!
This was a fantastic dinner and a great opportunity to try a beef Wellington. Although pricey, it is a great restaurant, with a great decor and service. A place to go to!
Enjoy (I did)!
Nice write-up. It sounds like Bob Bob Ricard is worth a try. We'll probably give it a go next weekend. I am surprised that they charged you for the bread (this is very common in Continental Europe, but certainly not in the UK).
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