Mowgli Street Food Cheltenham — Restaurant in Cheltenham

An underwhelming attempt at Indian food. Mowgli is positioned in a desirable location, occupying a vacant lot in the Brewery Quarter. The decor certainly matches the surrounding businesses; vague, tacky and overlit. The centre of the room is dominated by what appears to be the white tree of Gondor, while the far side is occupied by tables and bench swings, which you would imagine to be a not so subtle reference to Mowgli's furniture of choice in the jungle. It is however amusing to see diners struggle to keep rice on their spoons as they lollop back and forth.

I was greeted by a friendly group of staff, clearly keen to impress during their opening week. The menu was a collection of quasi-Indian dishes, helpfully translated into a glib, tokenistic English for the locals to understand. I started with a bottle of Cobra, which at £4.90 for a 330ml bottle seemed an ambitious promise on their part. Very shortly after, my first dish arrived. The "Ruby Wrap" was the best thing I had, the paneer, despite clearly pre-tattoed with grill marks, was fine, and the salad and sauce was light and inoffensive.

Following this, again, a very short time after, arrived my prawn curry and "temple dhaal". The prawns were well cooked but of low quality, but it was still the best part of the dish as its companion was a kind of tomato relish which was shown to a chilli and then dumped into a metal tin; a sauce which would not be out of place on a bad pizza. The dhaal was a slight improvement, but still deeply concerning. It lacked any defining flavour, just a generic sauce free of spices and full of disappointment. Alongside, I had a plate of "roti" which were actually just warmed wraps and basmati rice, which was well cooked but completely tasteless.

By the end of this ordeal I felt sorry for the staff, who had been very nice, and decided to give it one more chance, so ordered the gulab jaman, an absolute staple of South Asian cuisine. Described on the menu as "a kind of sticky toffee pudding" I had hoped that, again, this would be another example of a childlike translation to give people some context, but no! Mowgli's Gulab Jaman was quite literally four balls of sticky toffee pudding, which although perfectly edible, were a grim embarassment to the original dish. By this point I was at a loss, and ordered a whisky to settle my nerves.

If you're passing through Cheltenham and drawn into the Brewery Quarter by the lights of a million TK Maxx clearance displays, don't be fooled, for Mowgli is a shamefully poor attempt to capture even a teaspoon of that magic which you can find at Bombay & Co, just 5 minutes round the corner, and does it capture any? You bet it doesn't, not...

After my third visit in 6 days I felt compelled to write a review. This place is beautiful, the food delicious and service warm and welcoming. It is no wonder that the venue is so popular, its reputation certainly preceded itself.

I've managed to try a fair amount of the menu and haven't yet been disappointed in any of the dishes. The chat bombs are great - you're supposed to pop them all in your mouth at once, but if you're like me you might struggle to fit some of the larger ones - I was happy to make a mess though while eating them in two mouthfuls instead!

The treacle tamarind fries are more like treacle tamarind saute potatoes but these were regardless delicious, sweet and sticky. The ruby wrap (which I ordered on all three visits!) is delicious - paneer sat on a bed of fresh mint and coriander on a roti wrap and drizzled in a spicy sauce - would be perfect as a side to share or as a delicious lunch dish on its own if you fancied a lighter bite.

Aunty Geeta's prawn curry was absolutely delicious in a tangy tomato sauce. The Goan fish curry was hot, sweet and sour with fresh ginger cutting through. The temple dhal had a wonderful smokiness thanks to the toasted cumin seeds and the darjeeling tea steeped chickpeas in a tomato and spinach sauce utterly devine. Whilst I'm a pescatarian so can't profess the quality of meat dishes, my group ordered the gunpowder chicken several times - spicy chickpea battered chicken and angry bird - marinated chicken thighs in Mowgli's signature coleslaw. The butter chicken curry was also a favourite.

The cocktails enjoyed on one night included Mowgli's take on popular classics - a spice infused mojito type drink, chai rum sling with the added flavours of apple and apricot liquor, and masala espresso martini - which as sounds was a spicy version of the original. It was very hard to choose a favourite but these two were probably up there for me! Last night we enjoyed the house white wine and despite this being the cheapest wine on the menu it was by no means of poor quality, with us taking a snapshot of the wine to remember for future reference.

Overall, the cost of the meal seems so reasonable, especially when the quality of food, service and surroundings are all so wonderful.

Greg the front of house manager is charming and entertaining in equal amounts, and it was wonderful to meet and thank the head chef Carl who popped his head out to say hello so that we could compliment the great tasting food. Thank you so much for having us - we will...

Wow! I think this is the best Indian street food restaurant I've ever visited!

I've walked past Mowgli street food so many times and each time I've been on a time restriction....but not today!

So after a family day watching a movie in Cineworld (5*) we decided we're going to Mowgli's and I'm so glad we did.

The restaurant is certainly eye catching day and especially at night , you'd be wondering if the food is as enchanting as the look and I'll get to to the food in a moment!

The staff working today were nothing short of exceptional, the young lady who greeted us at the door made us feel at home straight away and was attentive and friendly. she saw we had a child and asked if we'd like a children's menu and of we had any allergies to make her aware of! That's a person who you'd want fronting your establishment. Straight away our son wanted to sit on the swing seats which she prepared spotlessly for us. Menu's in hand we got comfy!

The waitress who took our order knew the items and we initially ordered mother butter chicken a bunny chow and a kids chicken and fries . The meals were delicious and I mean an explosion of flavour, the young lady who greeted us asked how we were and I complimented my meal to her as she said it was her favourite too and I can see why! I've eaten in many restaurants and I don't think I've had food that had such a complex mix of flavour that all came through with each bite

We had another lady come over once we were finished and the meal was so nice that we decided to order the house street food sharer and so the next round of flavour explosions began. . did I over eat..... today I did and I didn't feel guilty, there were such a great selection of dishes all looking as good as they tasted .

I opted out the ice cream but my family didn't and needless to say very happy and feeling some what full. The share platter is £25 per person and really could easily cater for two light eaters but well when it's this good sharing isn't always on the cards.

Anyone who's ever wondered about going in , I'd say absolutely go in and enjoy , I don't think a single item on this menu will taste anything but delicious!

I really was taken back as were my family who all loved eating here A great group of front of house staff , extremely talented chefs and a beautiful place to sit down and escape the outside world for a little food haven! Highly...