Mowgli

Came in on a Saturday night — table for one. Enjoyed the atmosphere. The vibe and the music were a terrific complement, neither overbearing but totally in step with the look, feel and conversational tone of the clientele.
Wait staff was attentive without being overburdening in any way. Helpful and prompt.
Food was excellent. Butter chicken was among the best I’ve had. The Mowgli Paneer was very nice and terrific with the light and crispy Puri bread.
Will I come back? Yeah — with friends.

Wow, The word seems too short and really doesn’t explain how FANTASTIC this place really is. As Vegans we have a really hard time trying to find anything to eat while visiting the UK.
This is a GEM of the highest proportions. we were greeted very promptly and seated immediately. The servers are all very polite and helpful and were very thorough explaining the vegan menu and impressed on us to inform the server that we wanted the vegan options.
This is tapas style which is great for us as this is what we generally do everywhere we go.
We started with The Fenugreek Kissed Fries — Potato with turmeric, fenugreek & the Mowgli masala. priced @ £4.50. Which are absolutely amazing. We would love this recipe the flavors are amazing and they set you up perfectly for the rest.
We then had Rooti — Grilled wholemeal flat breads. Used like a spoon for curry. £1.50. the Mowgli Basmati Rice — Steamed with black cardamom & cumin. £2.50 and also Tea Steeped Chickpeas — Chickpeas simmered in a rich Darjeeling & spiced tomato & spinach sauce. £4.95 Picnic Potato Curry — How Indians tang their potatoes. Tossed in fenugreek, tomato & the haunting Bengali Five Spice. £3.95 Calcutta Tangled Greens — The Mowgli founders favourite! Sweet & nutty drumhead with mustardseed & lemon.£3.95
This was the perfect combination for us and was all cooked to absolute perfection. If you are traveling to Liverpool we would recommend that you stop by Bold Street and call into MOWGLI you won’t regret it. The flavors are perfect the ambience is great and the staff are all very helpful and courteous. We will be regulars here while we are visiting.
Just be aware that there busiest day is saturday around 1pm, leave it a bit later and it will be a bit quieter although this is a popular place.

After walking past Mowgli on a few occasions in Liverpool, it’s only recently that I’ve made the decision to actually step in the front door! On our recent trip to the city, Kate W and I headed there for our Friday dinner — and wow, was that a great choice.
Knowing that basically nowhere does a booking policy for tables of less than 6, we went a little bit earlier than we actually wanted to eat, popped our name down (it was about a 45 minute wait) then headed to the Shipping Forecast around the corner for a drink.
We were a bit early on our return so headed to the cosy bar towards the back of the restaurant. The whole atmosphere is relaxed and on the right side of intimate, and I could imagine it working for anything from a first date to a family gathering. We ordered a bottle of prosecco and waited about 5 minutes for the table. When it was ready, the front of house was happy to carry our drinks and we were soon faced with the menu.
It can feel a touch overwhelming at first but the menu is very well laid out, into street chat, carbs, ‘the Hindu kitchen’ and street meats. There are also tiffin boxes for one available, which initially took our fancy, but we eventually decided to share a few plates instead.
For start, we went for the ‘Himalayan cheese toast’ — yes, basically for the entertainment factor — and the bhel puri, the latter on recommendation from the waitress. This recommendation wasn’t the greatest for my personal taste and I found the dish underwhelming, but luckily the cheese toast was a great stand out! Although a bit of a novelty name, the Indian flavours worked really well with the sharp cheese.
Mains followed: Bunny Chow, house lamb curry, and a chicken dish (the name of which escaped me!) We also had some puri to mop up the sauces and a portion of basmati rice. The curries themselves were served in tiffin boxes, so we still got to have the experience we wanted! The Bunny Chow — lamb curry served inside a bread loaf — was the stand out for me personally, especially after the sauces had fully soaked into the bread.
It was an indulgent feast that I’m looking forward to trying again. We’re lucky to have this coming to Manchester but, after this experience, I think the original will remain the best.

Whilst on our little jaunt to Liverpool for the night Jess H gave me a few options on foodie places to go (yes she was my designated bar guide!).
It was a toss up between here and a Chinese but the curry won out and boy was it good! You cant book here so we turned up and put our name down for the 45 minute wait. You do have the option to sit in the bar however we decided to head elsewhere and come back — and given its location you have plenty of other bars to choose from!
We arrived back a little early to make sure we didn’t miss our slot and ordered a bottle of prosecco (£20) and we were seated only 10 minutes later. The menu isn’t massive on first glance however there was still too much choice! On recommendation we decided to go for our own tiffin styled indian — rather than the chefs surprise!
We opted for two starters; the cheese toast and Bhel Puri. The cheese toast was amazing with all its melted goodness — I’ve never had anything quite like it! The puri was served cold with lots of spices but was probably my least favourite.
Then came the main event; the house lamb curry, bunny chow and the agra ginger chicken served with a side of basmati rice and some nan bread.
Arriving in an authentic tiffin box we tucked in — we ordered lots of the mini plates on recommendation that three would be just enough between us but the amount of food was unreal! We started with the lamb curry which was divine — always a favourite of mine however the best dish by far was the chicken curry it was so tasty and full of flavour I was in curry heaven! The bunny chow we were most excited for which arrived in all its glory with the sauce and meat served inside a huge loaf of bread! Need I say anymore?
After attempting to completely finish each plate we admitted defeat! I was so impressed with this place — I love street style eating with the option to try lots of little dishes. Mowgli I will be back again soon!

Something different from main stream Indian food. I would say authentic — but I have never been to India!

Mowgli is an absolute gem of a restaurant on Bold Street. It is rather like having Indian tapas as all the portions are small and designed for sharing. You can order lots of different disses to share or order a stack of 4 tiffin boxes. The chef decides which dishes to put in so it is like a Russian roulette of food! We went with our teenage boys and all really enjoyed our meal.
The Lassies were a lovely way to start the meal and a delicious cooling drink to have with the curry.
You can order your dishes and add extra things on as you go as the service is super fast and the food comes out very quickly.
Looking forward to a return visit soon!

We waited a looooooooong tiiiiiiime to get seated here on a Saturday night! Came in around 7 pm and didn’t get seated until 9 (after being quoted an hour). Avoid at weekends at all costs, but if you want to go on a weekday, I’d say it’s worth your while.
I really like the décor, wooden tables and chairs and lights suspended in cages hanging from the ceiling. Casual but trendy. Our table was pretty slanted — when Mom put her plate down, it slid towards the center until she put food on it to weigh it down. We started with Yogurt Chaat Bombs at the servers recommendation, which were okay but also pretty strange. Bread puffs filled with chickpeas, yogurt, and tamarind — when you bite into them, the yogurt squirts out (like a bomb!) leading to some awkwardness. The taste was good, but they make for messy and uncomfortable eating. I’d skip those. The gunpowder chicken was a much better starter — crispy spiced chicken bites coated in chickpea batter. Like Indian chicken nuggets? Delicious.
We got the Office Workers Tiffin, which would make a good meal for one, but we shared it. If you’ve ever seen the movie The Lunchbox, you know that Indian office workers eat out of these tiered containers. A few containers had meat dishes, one had a veggie dish, one had rice. We also got prawn curry and tamarind treacle ribs — which were amazing — some other stuff, and various breads. We were stuffed.
Everything was tasty, and the food came out quickly and randomly. One very annoying thing was that the rice and bread came out towards the end of the meal. I understand at tapas/​street food style places, often dishes come out one-​by-​one. But you have to bring the rice/​bread out at the start, and not treat them as individual dishes that can arrive whenever. That was pretty ridiculous. And everything else about the service was dead slow. Took forever to order (even after our 2 hour wait!), forever to get the bill, to get more water, etc.
The food is very good, and it’s a really fun place to eat. Get the ribs and the gunpowder chicken for sure! But prepare to wait, and plan on a long evening with the slow service! Have to knock them down a star for that. Four star food, but the service experience and the misquoted wait time (we would’ve gone somewhere else if we knew it would be 2 hours, not 1) really dragged it down.

I’ve walked past Mowgli a couple of times now and noted a delicious, spicy scent wafting onto the street each time the door was opened, that the establishment was always jam-​packed full of people and that the lighting was adorable with empty bird cages full of lights hanging from the ceiling. I’ve tried to get a table before but have always found that there was always over an hour wait so when my friend and I walked past Mowgli yesterday at 2pm and noticed it to be fairly empty we jumped at the chance to sample their much talked about food.
The dishes are served in traditional Indian tiffin boxes and there isn’t a typical masala or balti in sight with each item on the menu being carefully picked by the owner of Mowgli, Nisha Katona. This is Indian street food at it’s best and it’s clear after a quick scroll down Mowgli’s Facebook page that Nisha truly cares for her food, making personal posts about her recipes, her family and upbringing, and her love for the restaurant.
My friend and I opted for the Yogurt Bombs, which were a food experience like no other! The idea is to eat the entire bomb (bread filled with yogurt, mint and chickpeas) in one go and the bread cracks when bitten, leaving the filling to explode in your mouth. It was sensational and I would seriously go back to Mowgli just for another round of those again!
For mains we split some rice, some wholemeal flat bread and a ginger chicken curry, a new item on the menu. Both my friend and I have caught a cold recently and found the ginger and chillies in the thin and generous curry stopped our sniffles instantly. To top it all off, we ordered two Mango Lassi’s to drink which contained large amounts of yogurt and tasted like blended Solaro ice lollies; divine!
Service was wonderful with the waiters being attentive, helpful and up for a chat. I could not recommend this place more and can’t wait to head back to sample some more of the menu!