Acclaimed Chef Departs City Monument to Champagne and Caviar After Seven Months

Eric Chavot will leave big-money City restaurant Bob Bob Cité

Eric Chavot, the highly respected one-time Raymond Blanc protégé (and former owner of Mayfair’s Brasserie Chavot) who oversaw the launch of critically acclaimed, delayed, Bob Bob Cité in the Leadenhall Building seven months ago, will be leaving the restaurant in January. In a joint statement with owner Leonid Shutov, first announced by Bloomberg’s Richard Vines, the chef explained that he would be departing “for private, family reasons”. “Since joining us over two years ago at Bob Bob Ricard and subsequently as chef at Bob Bob Cité, Eric’s culinary genius has shone through in every detail,” Shutov went on, praising his “lasting legacy”. Vines called it a “big loss.”

And in other news...

• London’s queues have a bad name, but this Bristol pub has no tables available to book for Sunday lunch until August 2021. The Bank Tavern’s 19-month waiting list began piling up after Observer Food Monthly crowned its roast as the U. K.’s best in its annual awards, praising its “piles of rose-hued beef, melting pork shoulder [and] plump chicken legs”. [Bristol Post]
• Actual prime minister Hugh Grant was in Chingford and Woodford Green yesterday campaigning with Labour’s Faiza Shaheen in a bid to unseat actual Grinch Iain Duncan Smith. No word as yet on whether he popped into any of Eater’s recommended canvassing stop-offs.
• Here’s what the Eater London writers ate this week.

Good tweet: