Bob Bob Ricard City

Verdict: Book It If Glamour and Comfort Food Is the Point

Bob Bob Ricard City is the right choice if you want a celebratory dinner in the City of London that delivers on atmosphere, delivers on food, and does not require you to pretend you are at a tasting menu restaurant. Book 2-3 weeks out for weekday evenings, longer if your date falls on a Friday. The Michelin Plate (2024, 2025) signals competent, consistent cooking rather than cutting-edge technique, and that is precisely the point here. If you want three-star ambition, look elsewhere. If you want a booth, a champagne button, and a beef Wellington with truffle jus for two, this is the booking.

The Room and the Experience

The City branch sits on level three of 122 Leadenhall Street, the building Londoners call the Cheesegrater. The floor position means the views are not the story. Interior designer Shayne Brady's room is the story, and it is a deliberate provocation: shimmering surfaces, booth seating throughout, and a dress code that reads "Elegant, ties not required. Formal fashionwear is welcome." That last line tells you everything about the venue's self-awareness. This is a room that wants to be dressed up in, and if that framing makes you uncomfortable, the other 18 links in our full London restaurants guide will point you somewhere more understated.

Every table being a booth is not incidental detail. It means every party gets a degree of privacy regardless of group size, and it means every table has its own Press for Champagne button, the feature imported wholesale from the Soho original. The effect is less gimmick and more mood-setter: you are here to spend, and the room knows it and is unapologetic about it.

What the Kitchen Does Well

The menu is French-leaning British brasserie cooking, executed with enough seriousness to earn two consecutive Michelin Plates without reaching for experimental technique. The approach is classical luxury: caviar and oysters as openers, a Stinking Bishop cheese soufflé as a starter of genuine skill, escargots en persillade done correctly. The Josper grill handles the steak programme, which is the right tool for the job at this price point. Chicken and Champagne pie and cassoulet with crispy confit duck leg cover the comfort-food register without being lazy about it. Beef Wellington with truffle jus for two is the showpiece main course and the kind of dish that justifies a celebration booking on its own terms.

Vodka shots served at -18°C and three caviars with crème fraîche and blinis set the opening register. Rum and raisin rice pudding and a shot of Limonnaya vodka at the same temperature close it. The kitchen is not trying to redefine French cuisine in the way that Le Gavroche did for decades or the way Pétrus by Gordon Ramsay does now. It is executing a specific brief, which is to make expensive, recognisable, comforting food feel worth the money in a room that justifies the price aesthetically. On those terms, it succeeds.

The wine list opens with Champagnes and leans heavily French throughout. The database notes that options below £40 a bottle are limited, which is consistent with the overall positioning. This is not the place to hunt for value bottles. Budget accordingly or commit to the experience fully.

For context on what serious French technique at the leading of the London market looks like, Galvin La Chapelle and 64 Goodge Street offer useful reference points. Further afield, Waterside Inn in Bray and Hôtel de Ville Crissier represent the benchmark for classical French cooking at the highest level, which helps calibrate where BBR City sits: it is brasserie luxury, not haute cuisine, and it is honest about that.

Who This Is For

BBR City works for City workers running expense-account dinners, couples celebrating something, and anyone who finds the original Soho location too hard to book or too far from where they are staying. The booth format makes groups of two to six equally comfortable. It is a less natural fit for large parties wanting a shared-table atmosphere or diners looking for a quiet, minimal room. The Google rating of 4.5 across 623 reviews suggests strong, consistent satisfaction rather than polarised opinion, which tracks for a venue with a clear identity that guests self-select into.

If you are visiting London and exploring beyond the City, our full London hotels guide, full London bars guide, and full London experiences guide will help with the broader trip. For comparison with high-end cooking elsewhere in the UK, consider Chez Bruce in south London, Moor Hall in Aughton, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, hide and fox in Saltwood, and Les Amis in Singapore for a sense of where classical French cooking travels well internationally.

Practical Details

Address: Level 3, 122 Leadenhall St, London EC3V 4AB. Reservations: Book 2-3 weeks ahead for weekday evenings; further out for Fridays or special dates. Booking difficulty is moderate. Dress: Elegant required; ties not required; formal fashionwear welcome. Budget: £££ price range; wine list starts above £40 a bottle, so budget £100-150 per head with wine at a reasonable pace. Awards: Michelin Plate 2024 and 2025. Rating: 4.5/5 on Google (623 reviews).