Mowgli

I’ve been wanted to try this place for a while and I’ve heard rave reviews. The atmosphere was great and the staff were friendly and helpful as I completely forgot to book on a busy Saturday night!
Between two of us, we chose Mowgli paneer, gunpowder chicken, Agra ginger chicken, aunty Geetas prawn curry and house lamb curry. I probably could have eaten more! This all came as tiers of dishes, and as much as I enjoyed everything we ordered I probably wouldn’t have them again. Everything was fresh and served piping hot, but the lamb dish was slightly bland and the proven curry was just prawns in a tomato sauce! The gunpowder chicken was delicious and the ginger chicken was tasty but very very ginger-​y! Very impressed over all, but I think I’ll try the curries served inside bread next time… the table next to us went with these and it looked amazing!

A great experience and definitely an upmarket curry house! The chaat bombs are one to experience, quite a novelty, tasty too but once experienced I’m not sure I’d rush into ordering again. They are thin little pastries with a spicy yoghurt filling, mouth sized balls that you pop into your mouth, then due to the delicate nature of the pastry they collapse/​explode releasing their tasty content. We were enticed into the restaurant after sampling a complimentary chaat bomb and proceeded to order more but once experienced I don’t feel there is a need to do so again. The curries are Indian street food, with the idea that you sample a few small dishes. The alternative is to order the tiffin boxes — designed to replicate an Indian workers pack lunch — and be surprised by the contents! This was a good way to sample various curries but to be honest they had a distinct ‘sameness’ about them. You can order more side dishes if you like but the tiffin selection was enough. Lovely surroundings, food nice enough but have eaten better curries.

Absolutely amazing place in my favorite City Center Corn Exchange. I went to this place to celebrate my friend birthday. I book table for 14 people with no asking for deposit. That’s great. Food is excellent full of exotics Indian spices. I was really enjoy chicken wings in very sticky souse with sesame seeds. For main i order chef surprise it is 3 little dishes choice for you via chef. I can full recommend this place it amazing street Indian food. Deffinitly I will come back

I have been itching to come here for aggges. that time finally came.
Table booked we walked in, to what reminded me of a harbour. All the boothes encompassing the bar bared entwined rope and lights, glamming up the ship decking looking wood.
Once Comfortly Sat, an amazing waitress explained this was a Indian tapas menu, and recommended the workers Tiffin box for one. This worked out to be the best value for money, however it is a gamble because you could not preselect it’s contents. Basically you got two meat dishes, one veggie and sundries such as rice. Individually these dishes would have cost £5−7 but everything was £14.
When I looked at the menu everything looked so good and non «white man curryish» so we went for the £14 Tiffin meat box. I had heard about the infamous yoghurt bombs which consisted of chick peas, yoghurt bound delicately in thin pastry with pomegranate. So those were ordered. We also added sticky chicken wings and a prawn curry to the mix.
The issue of not being somewhere before, is trusting the waiters portion recommendation. In this case I should have listened to the waitress.
The Tiffin was graciously unloaded. We had minced lamb with chickpeas, chicken curry, green lentil dhal and rice. While I waited on the flat bread I sampled a little from each one. Bearing in mind I hadn’t tried lamb in over 15 years. I found the flavours and texture sublime. the spice and flavours were so succulent and well balanced! The sauce from the chicken curry was good, the dhal perfect and the rice well cooked.
When the chicken wings arrived these were breathtakingly massive. The glaze was thick and powerful in cardamom and fresh coriander. underlying this was juicy meat. The yoghurt bombs were tasty but potentially too yoghurty for me. and the prawn curry was too tomatoey. I never thought I would say that.
Anyway although the Tiffin box doesn’t look much, it is actually really filling and we left a lot of food. I had wanted to try one of the lassi’s but glad I didn’t because the wine helped to digest my food more.
However, I can foresee this place varying greatly in experience. Some of the dishes are simply divine, where some are overpowering in flavour and spice. If you had received what we had in the Tiffin box you would have rated it highly. However if you had the prawns like I did you might not have?
The drinks menu is plentiful expect the wine. They stock three varieties of each simply labled «good», «very good «and «best.» And the pricing added a big chunk to the bill considering we ordered a drink each.
Overall the service was impeccable, décor innovative (loved the archaeological looking door when you go upstairs) and food inspiring. The tiffins also allowed waiters to clear tables up more swiftly.
I will definitely be back.

Absolutely fabulous food! Tapas style Indian is a genius idea. Went as a party of 4 and order probably too much. The vegetarian/​vegan curries were a definite favourite at our table. Butter chicken is a must try. The wings are huge and so delicious making it a great one to share.
Lovely décor with beautiful finishing a and lighting. The only thing that tainted the atmosphere was just a very varied playlist which was odd.

Charcoal hues, pallet wood, rope, fairy lights and a few copper notes… there’s nothing to dislike about the interior of this place, it is like its jumped straight out of Pinterest and landed in the Corn Exchange.
The menu has a great selection of small dishes, aimed to be shared (like tapas!) the food is served in tin serving caddies, and alongside the hammered metal square plates, it’s basically an instagrammers heaven!
If you’re a spice lover, it may be wise to ask for some extra chilies to avoid disappointment, as I didn’t find any of the dishes too hot.
Despite how pretty it is, I didn’t feel that it was fully authentic Indian food, and felt a little staged and very commercialised… there’s a significant lack of soul/​oomph… However I unfortunately feel that about the corn exchange in general as a building full of chains.
From what we sampled, I wouldn’t recommend the house curry or Goan fish curry as they were a tad on the bland side, however the sticky wings are on the complete other end of the spectrum (and look like they came from an emu!)
The paneer is also good (tastes like butter curry sauce!) and the gulab jamun desert is a classic that I don’t think can ever be made wrong, but the vanilla ice cream was real yum.
In all, I wouldn’t rush to go back (simply as there’s so many other restaurants to try in Manchester) however I would definitely recommend as somewhere to try

Sometimes I just feel let down… it isn’t something that happens a lot but it definitely lingers with me for quite a while… and this one is up there with finding out Santa doesn’t exist…(hoping my kids aren’t reading this)
I’ve been wanting to check out Mowgli since they opened (having read nothing but rave reviews of their Liverpool branch) and eventually popped in for lunch today.
Nice surroundings, nice tunes, friendly staff — but that’s all I can say as I really didn’t enjoy the food at all.
I went for the lunch time mixed box (£12 for 3 random curries and rice) and thought this might be quite exciting getting a mystery choice but basically just ended up with dhal, paneer and chickpeas. The flavours were all over the place, all I tasted was a very heavy sauce — almost like they’d all been cooked together like a curry mile curry…
Having lived in India for 6 months and having enjoyed some tremendous authentic food in Manchester at the likes of the Spice Club and Marhaba, I was hoping for something truly fantastic but there was no spice and it was all so bland. The flavours just weren’t right at all :-(
I also went for a rose and cardamom lassi which again unfortunately didn’t taste of everything.
I’d like to say I’d go back and try some other things off the menu but there’s nothing pulling me back in that direction at all I’m afraid.

Time for Tiffin! Not the ‘Carry On’ innuendo but the real Indian take out. Mowgli was a surprise, embedded as it is in a hub of ground floor restaurants in a shopping centre, alongside Italian, Mexican and Vietnamese eateries. For its location I expected passable recognisable fare but nothing too special. In fact it was great, specialising in a selection of sub-​continental street foods and lunch boxes (the ‘tiffin’) that are a rare encounter outside cultural festivals. I started with the Gunpowder Chicken, dry chunky and spicy bites followed but an office workers lunch (a ‘pot luck’ selected by the Chef) of Keema, Chana and chicken each stacked above the other in an Indian lunch box with rice. Fun, tasty and novel — well, not for the hundreds of millions of Indians who eat like that daily. I’ll take a different view of shopping centre food courts in future.

Mowgli’s menu makes minimal meaning to me, for of Mowgli’s multiple meals many men must maintain mere tiffin trumps them and towers tall.
Or put another way: Mowgli is brilliant. But the pricing makes no sense, because the tiffin box is practically always the right choice. Here’s why:
Mowgli is a curry house in the Corn Exchange serving authentic (according to an Indian expat I visited with) and delicious curries at a good price. The portions are a bit small, though fairly filling, and the menu pretty simple. Almost all the curries cost £6, the sides cost £2.50 or so. Thus for £8.50−9 you can get a modest but lovely meals.
However, for £12 you can get the tiffin box — 3 curries (2 meat, 1 veg) and rice (£10 for the veg tiffin with 3 veg curries). A sizeable meal you will probably just about finish, at a price which is beyond competitive. In fact, the absurdity of the price is illustrated by how often the tiffin box is cheaper than buying less food. Two people buying a curry and rice each will spend ~£17, but the same pair buying a tiffin with extra rice will pay £14.50 and get an extra curry ‘free’. If you are hungry and want to buy two curries and rice then it is cheaper to buy a tiffin and take the third curry home for lunch the next day. The tiffin (3 mains and a side) is also cheaper than any three starters on the menu.
The only downside of the tiffin box is that you don’t get to choose your curries, so you may get something you don’t want. But this is a minimal issue for a few reasons. Firstly, all the curries are lovely. Secondly, you can sort of guess that at least one of the house lamb/​chicken will be in there, and a couple of others are fairly likely to make an appearance. Thirdly, if there is more than one of you then the odds of getting curry no-​one wants (or no-​one getting the curry they want) rapidly fall to pretty much zero. Almost every group should just all order tiffin and then share/​distribute what comes.
And Mowgli delivers quality as well as quantity. The food was really well flavoured, with fresh chilli slices on top of each curry which you could remove or stir in to adjust the heat. Ample amounts of fresh ginger were on some curries too, giving them a really fresh flavour.
The only downside was the price of the sides and drinks. £2.50 for a small portion of rice is frankly harsh, though the tiffin neatly solves this problem too. But £3.50 for a glass of mango lassi was a bit difficult to swallow, when you can get a jug at most places for £5−6. Still, with the tiffin being such good value you could absorb the price of drinks a little easier. It was an annoying fly in the ointment though.

I was definitely excited to try out Mowgli with a group of fellow Unilocalers! I think the concept here is great… indian street food served tapas style! This gives you the opportunity to try lots of different traditional indian foods! Being tapas style I felt it was a great way to kurb your cravings for an indian without the usual gut-​busting rich meal that most indian restaurants provide… im always quilty of overindulging!
The menu has plenty of choice but isn’t over-​whelming! Between two of us we tried the yoghurt chat bombs, bombay chip buttie, gun powder chicken, lamb curry, paneer and the rootis! Everything was absolutely delicious but the lamb curry was my favourite; tender and full of flavour!
For an indian restaurant they also had a really nice selection of beers and wines. The only disappointing part of my meal was the dessert of chocolate brownie… it definitely wasn’t lacking in size but was regrettably not a lovely gooey brownie and was a mere sponge cake!
The service was very attentive and the staff put a lot of effort in to describing the dishes and the restaurant concept! Yes there was a few errors when the dishes started to come out, but with new staff in a new establishment with time im sure this will improve!
I’ll definitely be heading back to Mowgli to sample more of the menu!

I really enjoyed my dining experience at Mowgli in the Corn Exchange last night. Mowgli has a smart feel to it when you enter. I liked the leather booths with low lamps and the wooden tables. Don’t expect to see a korma or a balti on Mowgli’s menu, their focus is on authentic Indian street food and there are lots of traditional and inventive dishes to try. Our friendly waitress advised us to order a starter each and 2 curries as the dishes tend to be smaller so you can sample more things. I had the kati roll to start which was lovely and fresh and the Mowgli paneer and rhubarb and ginger dahl for main. The curries were full of flavour and great to try. We also ordered puris to accompany our food which are like crispy fluffed up nan breads. Theses were really good and made a great change from the usual Indian sundries.
It’s worth knowing that the food is brought as it’s prepared so you don’t get every dish at the same time but that just adds to the fun.

Overall I liked Mowghli but I won’t be rushing back, the food was ok, the service was good and the pricing was ok. The flavours were not anything special though, the tiffin tin style presentation was annoying more than anything, particularly the bottom tin which took up lots of space on the table due to it having long metal clamps off to the sides.
I found the house chicken to be a bit bland and the chicken to be dry, the house lamb was tasty and nicely spiced but not delicately balanced as I would hope from a good Indian. The rice was well cooked and the house dhal was pretty dull tasting only slightly better than a tin of heinz lentil soup.
The pineapple and chili lassis was good and the chaat bombs were good. I enjoyed the sweet dumpling pudding but it was too small for the £4.50 price tag
I liked the décor of the place
Overall ok but I’d head to eastzeast, zouk or akhbars if you want a better meal.

I had heard a lot about Mowgli from my fellow Unilocalers and twitter. So when Matt decided to start the world food tour here, I couldn’t resist.
Mowgli has a limited menu with a lot of interesting items, the names of which reminded me of home.
All the dishes arrived in tiffin carriers, which was a nice, nostalgic touch (for me at least) and reminded me of my school days.
The pineapple + chilli + lemon lassi was brilliant, although please remember, chilli is its middle name for a reason. The yogurt chat bombs are essentially dahi puri, which also tasted superb. The mother’s butter chicken tasted great, but the fact that the chicken was not grilled was a minor bump in the road. The paneer was a delight, though and it was well prepared. The winner of the day, however was the bhel puri that I asked them to pack for my wife. That was sensational! A close second came the gulab jamun, which could compete against a few Indian ones.
The biggest disappointment, however was the rooti. I realised this is what they call the roti here. It felt like a pre-​prepared one that was reheated prior to serving as opposed to freshly made in house.
Some of my Unilocal friends ordered tiffins, which is essentially a random mix of dishes based on what the chef feels like feeding you. One of the dishes, the House Chicken Curry felt a little bland to my taste buds.
As of now, despite the disappointing rooti and slightly bland house chicken curry, there are a lot of positives. The service was superb! I might give them another visit when I can afford the luxury next but for the long run, they need to up their rooti game because it is a prerequisite to make your own roti/​rooti/​chapati/​phulka/​naan/​paratha etc if you are portraying yourselves as an Indian restaurant.

Came here last night with a group about 10 people. Looking at the menu beforehand there were lots of lovely sounding dishes. I had also heard from Jessica H who went a few weeks ago that it was good.
(Also worth mentioning is that some of the menus we were given were missing some things — were one thing. The Roadside Slider Roulette under the Tiffin for one was not on most of the menus on the table — it just had the Office Worker’s and the Vegetarian option. Refer to the menu on the web site).
The service was overall good. The waitress at the start offered to explain the menu, help us decide what to have and how large the portion sizes of the dishes were — which was useful info. There was a bit of confusion with the food when it arrived with who ordered what and I think we may have ended up with at least one thing that no one ordered? Everything is served in tiffin tins so there was a bit of confusion also at the start if what she was putting on the table was one of the tiffin tin meals for one person or separate «dishes» for different people — but it was all OK in the end.
For starter, I shared some sticky chicken wings. 4 chicken wings with lots of sauce over it. Personally I thought they were OK. Kind of sticky but more messy (which is fine). But they were just kind of generic sticky chicken wings. In hindsight, I wish I went for something like that Blel Puri.
I went for the «Office Worker’s Tiffin» for main. This was 4 tiers of meat, veg and carb chosen by the Chef served in a tiffin — just like in India. The tiffin tins originates in India is kind of portable lunch box basically. I liked the idea of this as its nice to have a variety and try different dishes. What I got was I think the house chicken, a potato dish and what was like a mince meat curry. Plus some rice. (To go with the meal I had a Devassa Lager — apparently a tropical lager? Just tasted like normal lager).
The chicken was a bit dry but I really liked the mince meat curry — whatever it was called — and the potato curry too. Although I don’t mind a bit of heat in my curry I don’t tend to go for the hot ones — don’t see the point when rather have the flavour than the heat. All the curries I ate were not that hot, just the right level I think which I think it the right way.
It is a popular myth that Indian curries are super hot but not necessarily. Of course some are but many which are not at all but are mild, creamy, and even slightly sweet.
Although there were a couple «misses», there was enough I enjoyed plus the service overall that I will give Mowgli a 4. I certainly won’t hesitate coming back again.

Having a pretty varied and extensive experience eating out at restaurants, especially in big groups, I find that I hold high praise for those venues that can provide the same great service you expect attending as a couple or smaller group when you’re with a larger number.
Along with a group of 10 Unilocaler friends, I headed down to Mowgli last night to enjoy my first crack at Indian Street Food, and it was bloody fantastic. The staff were attentive and friendly from the off and were quick to get us watered with a nice selection of beers. I had the Devassi Lager, Brazilian I believe, which complimented my food choices well.
The food comes as and when it’s ready, kind of like Indian tapas, yes Indian Tapas, yes. So many yes’s could be used to describe that idea, amazing.
Anyway, my food was fantastic and by all accounts everyone else enjoyed theirs also! I had the Fenugreek Fries and Mothers Butter Chicken, both cooked brilliantly. I had a portion of Puri on the side also, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what they actually reminded me of, but I loved them also!
Well done Mowgli, you welcomed in a big group of foodies and did a fantastic job filling us up and sending us home happy!

After my experience at the Liverpool branch of Mowgli, I was eager to visit Manchester as soon as it opened. Throwing open the doors with little ceremony, this is set to be the number one destination in the Corn Exchange (for me at least!)
We arrived roughly 20 minutes before our booked time but this was no issue and we were seated promptly. Note that there are two entrances — one from the outside, opposite the cathedral, and one from inside the Corn Exchange — and it felt very much that the inside was the ‘main’ entrance. We were taken up a small flight of stairs to be on the Corn Exchange level and left with our menus.
Service was friendly at this point, explaining the different sections of the menu and recommending how much food to get, and came back for our order within minutes. We asked for a bottle of prosecco (at £21 it feels like a steal) and some more time for our food order. Our drinks came within good time but then we were left without service and started to feel rather neglected! After about 15 minutes we managed to catch someone’s eye, then the food fun began.
The portions here aren’t huge — in a good way — so you can opt for lots of items, perfect if you’re in a group or with someone without a huge appetite! We eventually decided upon: the yoghurt chat bombs; gunpowder chicken; mother butter chicken; paneer; dhal; rooti; and basmati rice.
Everything comes when ready, with the street plates tending to take less time to cook, and we were given two silver plates to dish out on to. This was an especially fun part of the experience as you can pile your plate up with lots of different options rather than being over-​faced. Cutlery is provided in a tin on the table if required but it’s more fun to scoop everything up with a rooti (wholemeal flatbread) and get your hands a little bit dirty!
The paneer was a particular favourite of mine, probably because I don’t eat it often, followed by the dhal. Although spicy, it was delicately balanced and had us going back for more as soon as the heat subsided. The yoghurt chat bombs were also great, filled with mint and chickpeas with the yoghurt, and topped with pomegranate.
We were checked up on a couple of times throughout the meal — potentially to make up for the slow start — and offered drinks/​desserts at the end. Although the desserts sound delicious (think lassis and a cardamon brownie…) I couldn’t possible have eaten another bite.
Price wise I think it’s a steal for the amount of food you can get through and the quality of the dishes! Looking forward to being able to share this with visitors and continuing the excellent memories from Liverpool in my own city.

After my glowing review and visit to Mowgli (Liverpool) you can only imagine my excitement when I found out there was another opening up around a ten minute walk from my apartment — score!
I booked up the first table I could lay my hands on and dragged my friend along for the pleasure. We arrived promptly on their very first Saturday evening hungry for a curry!
We were taken upstairs into the restaurant with a promised view of the cathedral at night. The décor inside Mowgli is amazing; fairy-​lights and natural wood cover the walls with sailing rope covering the backs of seats it really gives the interior a contemporary feel. Each table was big enough for 4 and it was good to see some booths only having two people using them — i’m glad to see they don’t pack people in on the tables here as it is a vast restaurant already with plenty of seats.
After one of the waiters took my friend through the menu we went straight for a bottle of prosecco and some tap water which were served promptly. Next was the decision on our food order — we did take a little longer but the staff were patient and very helpful giving us some pointers on good combinations when we were stuck!
After ordering we were sipping our bubbles catching up with real deal champagne saucers (it really is the little things in life) and we were content when the food arrived after a short wait! When the dishes are ready they are served straight away which is why its always a nice idea to order a selection in your party, as you can really get involved in the street food concept and try a bit of everything!
We started with the Yogurt Chat Bombs which came highly recommended and my god they were good! I don’t think i’ve ever tried anything like this before in an indian restaurant — on advice by our waitress we didn’t try to break the little puff apart before eating, and therefore avoided spilling the contents before demolishing them! They were filled to the brim with chick peas and lots of spices and a fair share of yogurt — these were an amazing and very tasty concept!
Next was the Bombay Chip Butty which was a mixture of spices and potatoes wrapped up in a roti with a dash of tomato relish. This is a tad on the spicy side but still another great addition and take on the traditional chip butty — it maybe could have done with a little more tomato relish for my taste however the little potatoes were perfect to dip in our main dishes!
Which brings me to the main event… on principal that our plans were to carry on drinking after, we decided not to over order and went for 2 curries and 2 sides between us — definitely the right amount, however, if you are planning on going out I’d say opting for 3 curries wouldn’t be to much! We ordered a side of rice and a wholemeal rooti — both delicious.
The curries we were stuck between but eventually went for the House Lamb curry and the Mother Butter Chicken. The lamb just fell apart in a dark plum sauce topped off with some coriander — I really wish I could make curries like at this at home! The chicken was also very tasty, probably my favourite (dare I say it)! Served in a rich tomato sauce it was to die for.
Considering the amount of food and drink we ordered our bill was very reasonable! It was also great to be asked by the owners at the front desk how our meal and service was on our way out. They saw us show up with a booking and were keen to see were we had heard about Mowgli — nice touch!
I really can’t say anymore other than YOU must go and check this place out and I will be back to try some of the other tasty options on the menu — thank you Mowgli for such a great night!