September’s MiniMoFo theme is literary inspirations. As usual, I cheated a bit:  rather than creating a dish inspired by a book, I went to a restaurant named after a character from The Jungle Book!

I tried to go to Mowgli in Liverpool once and failed.  As usual, Manchester performed better than its north-west rival.  Mowgli is located in the Corn Exchange in the city centre, alongside numerous other restaurants with vegan options (including Phở). There is a separate vegan menu, which is always inspiring. In summer I popped along with my family and we ended up with an all-veggie, mostly vegan selection.  Here are the vegan dishes we tried:

Dr HH had these tamarind treacle chips, which my mum and I both found a little too sweet.  Dr HH loved the flavour of the sauce, but would have preferred it on the side, as the potatoes got a little too soggy for his tastes.

I was very excited about trying the chip butty, because potato and bread are two of my favourite things.  The little potato chunks around the plate were delicious, but the sauce was pure fire!  I’m not sure I’d be able to handle this a second time, but I’d like to give it a whirl.

The temple dahl was much milder and easier to eat – very pleasant indeed!

The tea-steeped chickpeas on the right were probably the highlight:  packed with flavour, and you can’t beat a good chickpea.  And the picnic potatoes on the left were quite spicy, but also delicious.

Here’s another combination of dishes from when I visited with friends on a separate occasion:  in the top left you can see the rather exciting green ginger and rhubarb dahl.  This was a bit too exciting to pass up on!  The flavour was great (the rhubarb wasn’t overpowering), and it was nice to try something completely different.  In the middle we had roti and rice, and the chickpeas and potatoes are there again. Everything was spicy in the sense of being flavoursome rather than fiery from chillies.  You could really taste all the flavours.

I’ve now been to Mowgli with four non-vegans, all of whom have enjoyed their vegan or veggie options (though they do serve meat as well, if you’re companions require it).  Good food, fast and friendly service, and a lovely setting – what more could you ask for?