29th July 2013
Do you remember the magic of the zoo as a child? The weird and wonderful animals.. ice cream.. the penguins being fed?
Well, some clever noggin at ZSL (London Zoo) came up with the idea of combining that magic with Friday nights, alcohol, and pop-up food stalls. So, every Friday in June and July London Zoo plays host to a bunch of adults that want to look at (and sometimes act like) the animals.
We met at the gate, near Regent’s Park – a big group of girls ready to ‘go wild’ (couldn’t resist, sorry).
Here are the photo and food highlights of the evening…
We started at the otters, which are my personal favourite – they make adorable little noises and hold hands when they’re floating.
A met her animal soul mates – the lovely giraffes.
We stopped for a beverage…
And everybody got into the animal spirit of things.
In the main open area at the centre of the zoo, you find all the food stalls, more bars, shops, even a merry-go-round.
I was delighted to discover a ‘tail shop’, and quickly embraced my inner fox.
And J tried one on as well!
When we were finished playing with the tails, we carried on exploring…
Until it was time for food. To be honest, they gave me too much choice and I couldn’t decide what I wanted! There were pies, paella, tartiflette, wraps – the list continues.
Some of the girls went for Anna Mae’s delicious Mac ‘n’ Cheese, which has been at a lot of events recently. If you see them somewhere, definitely try it! They have lots of different toppings.
The rest of us had hot dogs – can’t go wrong with a hot dog. These were from the Great British Sausage Company and they went down a treat.
We ate our food sitting on the grass and listening to the music from the cabaret show (which was interesting).
Zoo Lates is sold out for this summer, but put it in your diary for next year. You can find the details on the website. Something a bit different from the average night out! Make sure that you do what we did – if you book in a group of 10 people or more, tickets are half price, and this is good value considering usual entry to the zoo.
Final piece of advice – we weren’t sure what to expect – but it is very much a walk around the zoo, plus the fun extras. Wear comfy shoes!
katie sprog 