The Evening Standard reports that Russian Leonid Shutov, the owner of Bob Bob Ricard, one of Soho’s top celebrity haunts, plans to spend a massive £15 million on a dining room that will rank high in the grandest restaurants ever to grace the West End of London – or anywhere else.
Shutov has leased a former Lloyds Bank flagship branch at 12 St James’s Street and plans to create a 250-seat restaurant called Biblioteka serving “English classics and Russian delicacies”. It will also feature a private dining room for up to 75 and a vintage champagne bar.
At 20,000 square feet, the restaurant will be twice as big as Quaglino’s and roughly the same size as the impressive Brasserie Zédel just off Piccadilly Circus.
Mr Shutov is quoted as being inspired by some of the world’s great libraries – Biblioteka is Russian for library – and will display the restaurant’s huge wine collection on the walls, like books. The collection will include over 100 vintages of Château d’Yquem; Krug Champagne going back to 1915; and top Bordeaux including Château Haut-Brion, Château Margaux and Château Cheval Blanc.
Clearly, Mr Shutov has high ambitions for the restaurant, reflected in the £9 million to be spent on fitting it out (£6 million is accounted for by the lease). It will open in late 2015.