Cynthia Shanmugalingam - From HM Treasury To Opening One Of London's Greatest Restaurants 'Rambutan'

Cynthia Shanmugalingam - From HM Treasury To Opening One Of London's Greatest Restaurants 'Rambutan'

From The Go To Food Podcast by Go To Podcast Company

July 20, 2026 · 49 min

About this episode

Cynthia Shanmugalingam discusses her journey from HM Treasury to founding Rambutan, a restaurant redefining Sri Lankan cuisine in London.

This week on the Go To Food Podcast, we're joined by one of the most fascinating figures in British food today: Cynthia Shanmugalingam, founder of Rambutan, the Borough Market restaurant that's redefining how London experiences Sri Lankan cuisine. From studying economics at Cambridge and working at HM Treasury to building one of the UK's most celebrated restaurants, Cynthia's journey is anything but conventional. We dive into the extraordinary story behind Rambutan, from losing her first restaurant site during the pandemic to spending six months travelling around Sri Lanka researching family recipes and village cooking for her award-winning cookbook. Cynthia shares why opening an open-fire kitchen in Borough Market was so important, the realities of running a thriving restaurant in today's hospitality landscape, and why she already has plans for what's next. Along the way, we explore the food that shaped her—from childhood meals in Coventry and her grandmother's cooking to the incredible breakfasts, curries and street food of Sri Lanka. She explains why "rice and curry" is far more complex than people realise, reveals the dishes she'd love to bring to London next, and gives us…

More episodes of The Go To Food Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Go To Food Podcast podcast page.