There's nothing like an exuberant, budget-no-issue, new restaurant project to get us excited. So when news broke earlier this week that Leonid Shutov, the restaurateur behind the never-knowingly-understated Bob Bob Ricard was planning a huge new place in St James you can bet we were all over it.
Biblioteka will be a £15 million, 17,000 square foot restaurant with a number of private dining rooms and a champagne bar. It'll be on the site that used to house Just St James.
The food will echo the menu at BBR so you can expect English and Russian classics, although they're a long way off putting the final menu together.
Just as important as the food offering will be the wine list. Bob Bob Ricard caused quite a stir when it launched a fine wine list that not only offered some extraordinary wines at a relatively low mark-up of a maximum of £50 any bottle over £100, but presented diners with a comparative price list at other restaurants to show just what a bargain BBR's wines actually were. Leonid's goal for Biblioteka is no less than having the best wine list of any restaurant in London. And to that end, he'll be covering the walls with a library of fine wines (hence the name) including 100 vintages of D'Yquem and 80 of Chateau Mouton Rothschild.
London wine expert WineChap worked on BBR's original fine wine list. We asked him for his take on what was planned for Biblioteka; "D'Yquem, a favourite of Leonid's is literally a class apart," he told us. "It stands alone in Bordeaux as the only 1er Grand Cru classé wine and if Leonid has a century of these bad boys lined up with a simple cash margin on top I think a lot of people will be developing a seriously sweet tooth.
"As for the rest of the list, I'm speculating but am sure it will read like a veritable trove of top Bordeaux, Burgundy & Italian classics, with some great Chateauneuf, Spain's Vega Sicilia perhaps and California's Ridge Montebello for example. Who knows what other goodies from the New World he'll unearth - but one thing you can guarantee - the prestige cuvée vintage Champagne selection will be second to none..."
We caught up with Leonid himself this week to find out a little bit more about what's clearly the restaurant to look out for in 2015.
It's been 6 years since you opened Bob Bob Ricard. Why a second restaurant now?
Simple. I now have the right experience and the right property, hence the timing for the new restaurant.
Did you have your eye on the site for a while?
12 St James has been on my radar for a while, but now I have the right offer.
It's a huge space. Zedel stays full by keeping prices down - what will your tactic be?
Make it exceptional in terms of scale, excitement, food and wine. The grandest dining room in London. And Biblioteka will have a lot less covers than Zedel. It will be a destination restaurant and we will use the extra space to make sure that the entire experience lives up to the special occasion promise. And we know how to deliver great value - which is a rare thing for a luxury restaurant.
Bob Bob Ricard is much loved in part for its beautiful interior. What are your plans for the look of Biblioteka?
David Collins is sadly no longer with us, but he has set the standard for the design of any restaurant that I may do. The goal is to create London's most talked about dining room interior. And there are several very talented designers out there that would be right for this challenge.
Have you anyone on board yet as chef?
No, but you can rest assured it will be someone with the level of ambition to match the scale of the restaurant. We have been talking to a couple of very promising rising stars and just had a call from someone of great international renown after the news came out earlier today.
And when do you hope to open?
The second half of next year, 2015. It's an enormous project, with a great deal of complexity and detail. It can not be rushed.
Biblioteka will open in the second half of 2015 at 12 St James's Street, London SW1A 1ER
