Mowgli Street Food Leeds review: Soft and succulent meats and impractical swing seats

The tantalising aroma of Indian street food quickly takes hold of you as you are guided to your table. The restaurant’s interior is beautifully designed, with elegant lighting and earthy aspects.

One of the most noticeable features of the restaurant is the swing seating, an Instagram obsessive’s dream. We were asked whether we would like to sit on the swings and we said yes, intrigued by the unique option.

Before I delve into the food, a warning – the swing seats may look appealing but are in fact incredibly impractical. It is the norm at Mowgli to order various small dishes and this is what we did, opting for four different options to share between us as well as some basmati rice and roti bread.

The food comes out as soon as it is ready and the table quickly began to fill, which can be tricky to navigate at the best of times. However, serving ourselves from the various dishes and trying not to knock everything over was made more of a delicate dance by the seating. The swings do not allow for much movement of the arms, making it awkward at times to plate up and eat.

Swing seats aside, the food was phenomenal. The gunpowder chicken was deliciously seasoned, perfectly finding the balance between fiery and flavoursome. The Mowgli paneer was also packed with flavour and the Mowgli sticky chicken was a real standout, providing a welcome contrast to the curry with its smoky tang.

The star of the show, however, was the house lamb curry. The meat was soft and tender, combining beautifully with the dark and stewy sauce and falling apart after every mouthful. The staff were incredibly quick and efficient with their service and did their best to keep our table from overflowing.

I was impressed by the four dishes we shared coming to a total of £33.30 considering how filling each mini pot was. I had a bottle of Cobra which was as refreshing as they always are, but more interestingly my partner went for a pomegranate fizz cocktail. She assured me it was a strong and impressive fruity tipple and one she would indeed order again.

Factfile

Address: Unit C, 32 Boar Ln, Leeds LS1 5DA

Telephone: 0113 403 3215

Opening hours: Monday: 12–10pm, Tuesday: 12–10pm, Wednesday: 12–10pm, Thursday: 12–10pm, Friday: 12–11pm, Saturday: 12–11pm, Sunday: 12–10pm

Website: mowglistreetfood.com

Scores

Food: 9/10

Value: 8/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Service: 8/10