Ingredients

To serve, mix the noodles and vegetables. Add extra almonds and fresh sliced green spring onions to each serving if you like.

From star London Zoo attraction, to star ZSL bar decor

Open only to naturalists (think Charles Darwin, not the Women’s Institute Calendar) and Zoo folk, my ‘in’ was my deer-studying, academic brother, Doctor Dan.

As if the crazy decor and highbrow chat weren’t enough, there’s always the rumoured ‘secret door’ directly into the zoo.

But I’ve already said too much…

Moulin Rouge Rambling Restaurant menu

The corsets were out in force on Saturday night, as the Rambling Restaurant moved to a secret location in Soho, for Moulin Rouge acts, cornichons, cake and absinthe.

The highlights for me were without a doubt Abi Palmer‘s spikey poetry, and the red velvet cake (which for some reason, I’d never heard of before).

Check out some pictures from the event.

…Looking forward to the next one – Rambling Restaurant is going onwards and upwards… Wonder if they take suggestions for future night themes?

More pics from the event, and a summary of the night from the Food Rambler herself.

+ an excellent blow-by-blow (oo0-err….) account of the evening from the other half of Rambling Restaurant: cake expert Mei.

Miso soup by adactio

Next time you come home from work starving, instead of eating lots of bread, why not make a quick miso soup? The following serves two:

Ingredients

If you like, you can also add a sheet of Nori (which is the seaweed which used to cover sushi). Simply take half a sheet, tear into pieces and add to the top of the soup.

This is a great starter for when you come home, and a great alternative to having snacks/bread.

C’mon – must be at least a million.

To be sure, we’re a nation obsessed with a chickpea dip.

I wonder why – a lot of the supermarket stuff is a bit of a travesty – too lemony, garlicky, to cover up the lack of taste from the key humous ingredients: chick peas and tahini (sesame paste).

Instead of going for this pallid, ersatz humous, try the legendary hummus bros (branches near Holborn, and on Wardour St in Soho).

The bros serve up a more genuine Middle-Eastern rendition of the h-dip. Satisfyingly thick and tasty, they serve it with a choice of meat and vegetarian toppings in the middle -

My tip – the ful (beans) or roast vegetables. The occasional falafel salad one is fantastic too. Oh, and Mexican Beef.

You can take away the humous too, so no need to rely on the bastard pesto or wasabi-flavoured supermarket version in future.

Image by Rain Rabbit

What happened to the real pubs in town?

How many have:

• blindingly red upholstry
• hot nuts (- it is my sad duty to inform you the hot nuts machine is no more. Prob no bad thing)
• and (a London pub first here?) friendly staff who’ll often save you even the trouble of moving 2m to the bar to order

Ye Old White Horse ticks all of these boxes.

Situated between Holborn and the Strand, its past claim to fame was refusing to serve students

(despite being practically inside the LSE campus.)

Needless to say, now all are welcome, and it’s all the better for it…

Image by Kake Pugh

“Early Summer is gooseberry season and this is a lovely, easy way of turning those sour little berries into something sweet.”

“Great on toast, as a cake topping, on pancakes or muffins, in a pastry case as an easy pudding or straight from the jar with a spoon. Makes a nice present too.”

Ingredients:

Disclaimer: I lied: this recipe is actually by (another) poet extraordinaire Bez – Ta pal.

Images by: kyleplastock

(and Bez)

LondonCooking has some advice, in the midst of the Great Swine ‘flu plague of 2009:

Not our own slogan (we wish), but that of a very timely T-Shirt range.

Well… It’s good enough for Katie Price. And she hasn’t got swine flu. Yet.

Read about the history of the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ slogan.

“If you feel a bit under the weather,
If you feel a little bit peeved,
Take granny’s stand-by potion
For any old cough or wheeze.
It’s a cure for hepatitis
it’s a cure for chronic insomnia,
It’s a cure for tonsilitis
and for water on the knee.”

- ‘Have a cuppa tea’ by the Kinks

I feel the same way about umeboshi plums – actually mini-apricots, pickled until they reach eye-watering levels of saltiness.

In Japan, these “seeringly tart” treats are eaten regularly as an accompaniment to rice (even for breakfast.)

For the rest of us, they’re a great pick-me-up when you’re suffering from a hangover or mild stomach upsets.

Warning: they are intensely salty. And pricey (£7ish for 40 or so). But still worth it, I reckon – After all, you’ll only need one once in a blue moon. (Here’s hoping, at least.)

You can also get umeboshi paste, which is great on corn on the cob, and is the secret ingredient in my tahina recipe.

Since umbeboshi are said to have an ‘alkalising’ effect, I’m wondering if they might be a good indigestion remedy too (caused by acidity?) … Anyone know?

And more to the point, have they been used to treat water on the knee…?

Image by kattebelletje

Are you, well… not classy? You could do worse than checking out the Sun’s slideshow of the World’s Rudest Food, bringing Pee Cola, Shito Hot, Mini Dickmanns (pictured) and Cock Flavoured Soup mix to the masses.

Meanwhile, the Guardian challenged its readers to come up with two course menus costing less than £5 – downturn-tastic.

Finally, don’t miss the London Paper’s London’s top secret restaurants – top of the list is the mercurial Food Rambler’s Rambling Restaurant – for all the latest Rambling Restaurant news and dates, check out the Facebook Page.

This will def be worth checking out in future – you can book/find out more info by emailing ramblingrestaurant@googlemail.com.