The Mowgli Christmas feasting menu has launched in Oxford and you’re in for a treat. Every bite promises an unforgettable journey of flavour.
Perched at the top of the Westgate with views out across the city, Mowgli Street Food offers a vibrant and unique dining experience and is not your typical Indian restaurant. Packed with the authentic flavors of Indian street food, a twinkling contemporay vibe and great service, it’s the best meal out I’ve had in a long time.
The Christmas feasting menu at Mowgli has the best of everthing and with meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans catered for it would be perfect for a date night, catch up with friends or work Christmas party. The set menu is priced at £35 with generous portions and even a glass of prosecco or bottle of beer included (soft drink alternative available).
Famed for their yoghurt chat bombs, you cannot go to Mowgli and not have them so I was excited to see these as an appetiser on the Christmas menu. Delicate crisp puffs of pani puri, they’re filled with a taste sensation of chickpeas, spiced yoghurt, tamarind and coriander then topped with a burst of sweet, juicy pomegranate. The trick is to pop the whole thing in your mouth in one go and they explode with the most amazing flavours and textures.
Next up, there’s a choice of street chat and street meets. We went for the Gunpowder Chicken and Himalayan Cheese Toast and decided to share between ourselves so we could have a bit of both. My photo really doesn’t do them justice. Cheese on toast with a wonderfully vibrant Indian twist. It comes with fresh coriander, red onion and a green chilli dressing, sharp cheddar alongside an Indian picked with just the right amount of kick. Golden fried in a chickpea batter, Mowgli’s chicken poppers were delicious with ginger, garlic and garam masala. I could snack on these everyday!
Mowgli is all about the type of food that Indians cook and eat at home and for main course you select a two tiered tiffin box which also comes with rice. Hot and fresh to the table, you can choose a meat & veg, vegetarian or vegan option and then it’s a suprises what you’re going to get.
I loved the theatre of the tiffin boxes being unclipped and our waiter described each dish. We had temple dahl, tea steeped chickpeas, the house chicken curry and keema karma. Different textures, seasonings, sensations, it was an amazing spread.
Simmered in a rich Darjeeling spiced tomato and spinach sauce, try this and you’ll never think of chickpeas as boring!
The Keema Kama was vegan and marries roast cumin, cloves, tomato, peas & pulses with ground plant protein to deliver the ultimate winter feel good dish with just the right hit of heat.
Dahl but not like I’ve had it before, the red lentils had been simmered with toasted cumin, coriander & lemon and you just keep going back to more.
With a velvety rich sauce of coconut milk, ground almonds, the house chicken Kerelan curry is one to savour. The chicken is so tender is just falls apart. Mowgli are the masters when it comes to fresh, fragrant and authentic street food.
Seriously stuffed by the time we go to desserts, everything had been so good we decided we had to squeeze in the last course. The warm chocolate brownie was rich and decadent with just the right amount of oooze in the middle and slightly crisp top. Paired with vanilla ice cream and a sprinkling of pomegrante, this is one for the chocolate lovers.
A refreshing alternative is the mango sorbet, it comes in a cone but we asked for a dish so we could share both desserts. Vibrant, tropical with a smooth, velvety texture and the perfect contrast of sweet and tang, it’s hard to choose which one was best.
There’s a great atmosphere inside Mowgli at the Westgate. Twinkling lights, hanging lanterns and natural wooden tones run throughout, they even have swinging rope seats. I have to give special mention to our waiter too. He was so friendly, efficient and knowledgeable about all the dishes.
