Cynthia Shanmugalingam - From HM Treasury To Opening One Of London's Greatest Restaurants 'Rambutan'
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How did Cynthia transition from a career at HM Treasury to opening Rambutan?
Well ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the GoTo Food Pod brought to you by Blink, the greatest POS system in the whole world. Come on, we all know that, don't we, Cynthia? Don't we Ben? Yeah, we've got to do it. Oh I do. Um and we are joined by Cambridge educated e economist. E economist? I've got all American after the aircom story off camera. Economist is flawed you. Yeah, but I've got American. Okay. Because we were talking about American aircon off there. Anyway, turn Connery Powerhouse who's fundamentally reshaping how London experiences Slankan Flavors. Um after walking away from a career at HM Treasury to launch groundbreaking social enterprises, she survived a heartbreaking pandemic era Russian cancellation, packed her berg's for a six month deep dive research trip, and returned to pen one of the greatest books of all time, let alone then opening one of the greatest restaurants of all time.
Only round the corner for us in Borough Market. Um we are just two minutes walk away. For those who don't know about the food there, what little delicious treats are waiting for us?
I call I call it like diaspora Sri Lankan foods. So there's a mix of dishes that you only get cooked in Sri Lankan homes. A chicken pongole rice is probably the most famous, which is like Mrs. My Grandmother's recipe, and it's kind of like a chicken, almost like a coconut y risotto consistency. We grill the chicken and we put it on top. Um there's a spicy uh f squid bun with hot butter with made of lemongrass and chili and garlic over the top, uh and peppers, and a really spicy mayo. with lots of anchovies and chili and salt in it, in a bun, 'cause it's fun to have things in a bun. Uh there's a crab curry. Crab curry's maybe one of the most famous of the islands. Curries comes from right up in the north, which is where my family is from.
There's a crab curry kotorotti, which is like a refried street food dish of refried chopped up roti and curry and curry leaves and that kind of thing.
Sounds unbelievable.
Yeah.
Better than Mahala Joordner and Kumasangakara's Ministry of Crab, I uh
I wouldn't ever I wouldn't ever try to I would say that.
I've been there.
Okay. You
have? I've been there. Decent. Better cricketers than they are are cooks, I'd say. Mm. Yeah. And and they're great cricketers. That's a high bar. Yeah, it's a high bar.
It's a high bar. Like you'd have to be one of the best cooks in the world.
Yeah, exactly. And he's a beautiful man. Now lives in in Dorset, just playing cricket all day. Village cricket. Kumar. Anyway, it's not about Kuma. Um Obviously it's been a huge success since you opened a couple of years ago. Is uh th th there must be some more restaurants around the corner.
I would love to do another restaurant, yeah, yeah, I'd love to do one.
Same thing?
Different thing, I think. What are you thinking? Uh I'm thinking about the food of that region. Um but maybe more maybe more Tamil food. Um so like the bo from the borders of of north northern Sri Lanka and southern India. That's the food that I'm really excited about.
People come sniffing, offering you money. So is can we do one together?
Yeah, yeah.
Well what about Tamil food then? Can you give us a couple of Tamil dishes?
Dosa maybe is one of the most famous. I don't know if it can be said to be Tamil, but is it from all of the the southern states of India? Oh
we'll claim it.
Okay. Okay. Uh it's like a fermented lentil rice um pancake. We do a v like a kind of version of it in in in the restaurant, but when they're done in their full glory, they're so delicious. There's hundreds of varieties. They're crispy and savory and really great.
I
thought there's a lot of like spicy curries and fish uh seafood from that area that's really amazing. Um it's like cool. W it's called cool and it's like kind of almost like a Tamil Buya base. It's like a mix of crab uh squid, uh sea whatever seafood you've got to hand. Really, really spicy. It's in a kind of broth um consistency. the biryanis from that area are really amazing, like mutton biryani, really spicy. They're not they're so different from like the sp the biryanis in like North India.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Cynthia transition from a career at HM Treasury to opening Rambutan?
0:03–6:39
2
What challenges did the pandemic pose for Cynthia’s first restaurant site?
6:39–14:24
3
Why did Cynthia spend six months traveling across Sri Lanka for her cookbook?
14:24–21:48
4
What makes Sri Lankan “rice and curry” different from other Asian cuisines?
21:48–27:34
5
How does Rambutan’s open‑fire kitchen and front‑of‑house design reflect Cynthia’s vision?
27:34–32:13
6
What role do price and value play in Rambutan’s menu strategy?
32:13–38:12
7
Which dishes does Cynthia think are overdue on London restaurant menus?
38:12–43:05
8
What are Cynthia’s favorite three‑course meals and her go‑to song to end the show?
43:05–48:39
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The Go To Food Podcast
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