The Instagram chic Indian street food restaurant where the food is as good as the decor

Bristol spent years waiting for the promising Indian street food chain Mowgli to open. Unfortunately – largely due to the pandemic – it took four years to open after plans were first announced.

But then, late last year, the Instagram-chic eatery finally opened its doors on Corn Street to eager customers. It’s been on my list of “to try” places in town since it opened in December – and I finally got the chance to visit it this week (just six months later).

Now Bristol is no stranger to great Indian street food restaurants – just a few doors down from Mowgli is Dhamaka and a short walk through the city center is Nutmeg. I ate at both and the food is delicious.

Read on

So when I visited Mowgli, I was a little concerned that it might be somewhere with more style than substance. It is popular in part because of its charming decor or twinkling lights covering chairs, tables and trees, as well as the rocking chairs it has become known for on Instagram and TikTok.

And while I’m all for fairy lights and a pretty backdrop – when you’re choosing to spend your money eating out these days, you really want it to be worth it – and thankfully, in Mowgli’s case, it was worth every penny.

Firstly, while the setting isn’t everything, it certainly doesn’t hurt and adds to the feeling that you’re somewhere pretty special – even if it’s just a Tuesday evening in rainy Bristol. The other thing to say is if you really have your heart set on Mowgli then you should book early as even on a Tuesday night most of the tables were full.

We had decided in advance that we would order the sharing menu (£25pp for two), mainly because I’m not that adventurous of an eater and can sometimes find menus with lots of sharing options a bit overwhelming and I never did. I know what to choose.

The sharing menu had a good selection of street food as well as a dessert each and at its center is Mowgli’s signature ‘Cutie Tiffin’. The Tiffin Box – which is also available on the main menu for one (£20 for meat and £18 for vegetarian) – comes straight from the streets of India, where workers get their lunch in a tiffin lunch box. Known as the curry hazard because the chef chooses which dish to send out and you just have to hope for the best. In our case we got the Mowgli House Chicken and Agra Ginger Chicken (both £8.95 individually) as well as sharing rice (£3.95) and Picnic Potato Curry (£5) as well as two Roti Breads (£4 for 2). ).

The curries were well seasoned and delicious – and I personally liked that the meat had been cut into small, manageable pieces.

There was also plenty of rice to accompany the meals for both of us – and with the Roti bread and two potato dishes (I also had the fenugreek roast which was my favorite dish of all) there was plenty of carbohydrates to delete. top the curry sauces.

The fenugreek fries (£6) were small cubes of potato seasoned with turmeric, fenugreek and Mowgli masala and were seasoned to perfection. The other street food we shared included the Himalayan Cheese Toast (£6.25) and of course the Yoghurt Chat Bombs (£6) which are like a poppadum explosion in your mouth. As a tip, I’d say try to put everything in your mouth in one go – just to avoid the mess.

Dessert options for the set menu were Mowgli Chocolate Brownie (£7) and Homemade Mango Sorbet Ice Cream Cone (£4.50). The brownie was soft and warm and came with a delicious scoop of vanilla ice cream and the mango sorbet was a perfect palate cleanser that tasted like Solero.

Mowgli also has an extensive cocktail menu – with their own interpretations of signature classics such as a Chai Rum Sling (£9.95) and a Masala Espresso Martini (£9.50).

Sign up to receive our What’s On in Bristol newsletter for all the latest things to do and places to eat.

Having been adventurous with our food choices, we kept it simple with the drinks – choosing a larger bottle of Cobra (£5.25) and a glass of Tempranillo red wine (£8.50) for a large bottle.

Our total bill with the sharing menu (£50) and two drinks came to £63 – which wasn’t too bad considering how many delicious dishes we got to try.

It may have taken me six months to finally get there – but I certainly won’t be waiting that long to go back to Mowgli again.