The Beverley branch of Mowgli, the Indian street food restaurant chain owned and run by Nisha Katona, opened earlier this year and we had been keen to try it for some time. I went online and was surprised that there was availability on Saturday lunchtime at 1pm especially as that is market day and the town is bustling.
We arrived about twenty minutes early and were told that wasn’t a problem and that our table was ready. The place was almost empty. Again, another surprise given I had previously overheard other people in the town say that there was a long waiting list for tables. Perhaps that’s the case for a Friday or Saturday evening.
As we were new to the experience the server took some time to explain the format of the dishes and recommended that we have 2 or 3 dishes each. This felt like a lot, especially for lunchtime, and at £9 or £10 each seemed expensive. We realised quickly after the food arrived why that number is recommended. The menu itself is quite extensive and could easily keep you going for a number of visits, but it could quickly become quite samey after that as there is no Specials board to fall back on for extra choice.
After perusing the menu for a few minutes, we opted for a Butter Chicken curry and a Goan fish curry, together with a portion of Chaat Bombs to start (uber tasty with a nice hit of heat). Two Roti naan breads accompanied. The food arrived quite quickly and was served up in small, 10cm diameter, round metal straight sided dishes of about 3 cm deep. Given the price the size of the portions is small but for the two of us as a light lunch it was more than adequate.
The Butter Chicken was extremely tasty with a little sharpness of, I think, tamarind but it lacked heat. The Goan fish curry had a hint of sweet-and-sour about it and again had tamarind in it. Once again heat was missing, and I wonder if this is because they are catering for all tastes. Both dishes were extremely flavourful but the lack of heat, even with whole chilli’s present on top, was disappointing.
This is clearly a successful chain of restaurants, but my only real gripe is that the portions are small and pricey. In all our meal totalled £43 for the two of us with a ginger ale each. When compared with other chain restaurants such as Wagamama where the meals are hearty and similarly priced this is an expensive experience. Even our local Indian restaurant only charged us £55 for larger meals (about four times the size) when four of us visited recently! So, Mowgli doesn’t tick the ‘value-for-money’ box unfortunately even though the food is tasty.
As a concept the restaurant’s work but I think it will be some time before we return. Sorry.
The Willoughton Wanderer
"Eating my way through life one bite at a time!"
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The Willoughton Wanderer 
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