Bob Bob Ricard

For the last year or so I have heard marvellous things about the restaurant Bob Bob Ricard in Soho, which natural meant when in London last month a visit was in due order.

My friends Suss and I arrived at 14:00 for a late lunch before heading off to the matinee of Mamma Mia. When we arrived we were immediately whisked off to a booth and our coats somewhere else. Later we realized that our coats were closer than we thought. Each booth had a cleaver little hanger thing just on the back. A very nice touch.

The interior of marble, crystal chandeliers and pink and baby blue velvet is rather eclectic, but then on the other hand both food and drinks are very eclectic too, only the best of its kind. As a foodie it's a bit like being in heaven when reading the menu and wine list. You just want to try it all.

For starters we both decided to go with BBR's famous Russian Salad with shaved black truffle including a shot of Russian vodka. When the food and shot arrived the waiter asked if we knew how to drink vodka. Immediately we both said no, never mind being Swedish and having grown up in a country where vodka is a common as water... Despite being Swedish I'm not really a fan of vodka and shots or snapps as it is called here. It's just something I've learned to drink, but I do not like it very much. So when trying the vodka I just thought - "OK it's going to be nasty, a bit like medicine. Just drink it quick". But boy was I wrong. This was the purest and smoothest vodka I have ever had and with truffles and amazingly finely cut summer vegetables it was a match made in heaven. The vodka also made both Suss and me wonder what sort of vodka we've been drinking so far. Clearly very low quality...

For main course it was a bit harder to decided. Everything sounded so delicious , but again we both decided to have the same dish (no, we are not twins...) - O'Sheas's Beef Onglet with caramelized onion and green pepper sauce. Like I wrote earlier the wine list was amazing and picking a wine was hard but eventually we (or really me) decided we were going to drink Greenstone Vineyard Heathcoat Shiraz 2006. Divine Shiraz and steak can never go wrong, and it didn't. The meat was perfect and in the end you just continued eating because it was just sooo good.

When it was time to look at the dessert menu, we were both pretty full but still wanted to have something sweet. And there they were to our rescue – handmade truffles made from Papua New Guinea 80% chocolate. Just perfect with a strong cup of coffee and of course the remains of the wine.

A perfect lunch with perfect company in the perfect city. Can't get much better than that. Or maybe a second visit to try some more top-notch quality food and drinks. Some champagne and Iranian caviar, or maybe the Beef Wellington which according to Bob Bob Ricard himself is just amazing. I'll be back, that is for sure.