A spare couple of hours in a sun-drenched Liverpool, and all thoughts turn to lunch. Just for a change. As I wander from the ferry port up towards Castle Street, I’m struck, once again, by the sheer magnificence of the Royal Liver Building, topped by those mighty and mythical Liver Birds. It’s always good to be back, especially when it involves eating at Mowgli, a small but immaculate chain of Indian restaurants where the cooking is really rather splendid.
It helps that the room, high-ceilinged and elegant, is flooded with natural light, the centre dominated by a vast tree, with birdcage lampshades and verdant ferns tumbling down from wrought-iron balconies. Mowgli was started in Liverpool by Nisha Katona, a barrister turned restaurateur, and is slowly spreading across the land. Good news for us all. And even on a Monday lunch, traditionally the slowest service of the week, the room is busy, which is a sign of things being done just right. The menu, inspired by street food and Indian home cooking, makes me wish I wasn’t solo.
At Mowgli ‘the food is bright, vivacious and brimming with tang’
Still, I make swift work of a bhel puri, that classic Mumbai snack, all crisp gram-flour threads and peanuts, jumbled together with pomegranate seeds and a tangle of herbs. There’s discreet sweetness, tart tamarind bite and a gentle chilli burr. ‘Angry Bird’ sees two fat chicken thighs tandoor-cooked and laden with ginger and garlic. The skin is sticky and fragrant with cumin and coriander, the flesh plumply succulent. A sprightly red cabbage slaw, peppered with mustard seed, adds sharp, vibrant crunch. Then a prawn curry, the best dish of an impressive bunch, with complex spicing and a beautifully judged tamarind acidity. Alongside, a warming, mellow dahl scented with cumin and curry leaf.
I know I bang on and on about acidity, but getting the balance right is the thing that turns an average dish into a great one. And at Mowgli they’ve mastered that art, so the food frolics and gambols across the palate, bright, vivacious and brimming with tang. Meaning you skip rather than trudge out of the door. Throw in slick, swift and smiley service, and eminently reasonable prices (feast for £25!), and you have a truly lovely lunch. A class act, in every way.
About £25 per head. Mowgli, 3 Water Street, Liverpool; mowglistreetfood.com
