IT’S the feral child in me that loves ‘chat bombs’. Like Mowgli, Kipling’s kid hero who gives his name to the latest small plate, street food arrival in town, I’m up for a bit of jungle fun. So what better than a crisp little puri puff bread swallowed whole that bursts in your mouth? The yoghurt version is the more satisfying – an explosion of milkiness laced with sour tamarind, crunchy chickpeas and a herbal whoosh of mint and coriander. The pure tamarind bomb is drier and potentially less messy.
These follow later in stacked tiffin tins, 'by train, mule, taxi and turban'
Both, at £3.95 a set of five, are essential components of the playful snack side of Mowgli, Nisha Katona’s indie intruder in the chain gang world of the Corn Exchange. It brings with it all the trappings of the Liverpool original – birdcage lights, ship’s ropes and food served in mini-tiffin tins. The food is full on inspired by barrister-cum-YouTube cookery guru Nisha’s Calcutta family roots – a substantial chunk of it vegan, often onion and garlic free, reflecting the dairy and meat-free subsistence diet of millions of Indians.
MowgliIn the new Manchester kitchen there’s not an Indian in sight when we visit. That’s no obstacle to authenticity, mind. Neither are the nods to nearer home, which grate with some: the Bombay Chip Butty, Himalayan Cheese Toast, Mowgli Sticky Wings and, one of the ‘pot luck’ selections, Roadside Slider Roulette, described as 'Indian trucker tucker'.
None of these I tried because the main menu was so enticing and didn’t disappoint. Most dishes are priced from £4 to £6 and each comes in a little metal tiffin tin with handles. Perhaps the only dullard among the bunch we ordered was a Nisha childhood favourite, Calcutta Tangled Greens, mustardy cabbage (£3.95), easily outmanoeuvred by Darjeeling Tea Steeped Chickpeas with tomato and spinach and a glorious Green Ginger and Rhubarb Dahl (their Roald-fashioned spelling – I prefer no h) with its uber-tangy green mung beans.
Mowgli's Chat bombsThey cost £4.50 and £4.95 respectively. Head for fish and meat and the prices go up a couple of quid. Merited in the case of the stand-out dish, the sweet-sour House Lamb Curry, simmered with marrow bone, star anise and plums (£6.50). Perhaps the eponymous creator of Aunt Geeta’s Prawn Curry (£6.50, main image) could have been more generous with the prawns, but then the rest of the combo was beguiling in its own right – green peas and mustard, chilli and tomato and the addictively pungent nigella seeds. Nigella aside (and let’s use the alternative moniker kalonji to avoid the luscious Lawson allusion) and with the addition of spinach, it was much the same sauce that couched our Mowgli Paneer (£5.50), using a softer, silkier Indian cheese than is the norm.
Roadside Slider RouletteIt’s the kind of cuisine that wine struggles to accommodate. Hence wisely Mowgli keeps its list short. We went for the top-priced Domaine Zinck Gewurztraminer (£24), not as perfumed as these Alsace whites can be, but with enough off-dry spice to cope with our food choices. Perhaps a better bet would have been one of their ‘hand-crafted’ lassis – rose and cardamom, mango or pineapple chilli and lime or even a cocktail from an affordable array heavy on eastern flavourings.
Beer is not an obvious priority, save for the unusual presence of ultra hoppy Curious IPA (£4) brewed with some finesse by Kent winery Chapel Down.
Mowgli wall menuThe Liverpool Mowgli has been open little over a year, so it is a bold step to branch out so swiftly in a competitive Indian street food field. Scene in Spinningfields goes big (literally) on its street food credentials, while we await the arrival of Cheadle’s Tiffin Room to First Street and Bundobust from Leeds to, probably, the Northern Quarter. Here Rusholme’s Mughli, maybe less ‘street’, have already set up shop in Superstore on Tib Street.
But will any of them compete in the currently uncrowded tiffin market? In a cute take on Indian office food, you can carry out a tiffin box from Mowgli, with the menu contents changing daily. In India it’s a billion pound industry. When office workers leave home for work, they cannot take with them their home cooked hot lunches. These follow later in stacked tiffin tins, “by train, mule, taxi and turban”.
Mowgli serves the Office Workers Tiffin at £12 for three curries and a black cardamom rice and the vegetarian School Dinner Tiffin at £10. Stay in or carry out, it must be better than a Vesta.
It’s definitely looking like an Indian Winter.
Mowgli, 37 Corn Exchange, Manchester M4 3TR. 0161 832 0566, mowglistreetfood.com
Rating: 14/20
Food: 7/10 (chat bombs 7, tangled greens 5, tea-steeped chickpeas 6, ginger and rhubarb dahl 8, paneer 7, Aunty Geeta’s prawns 8, house lamb curry 8)
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 3/5
