A Quick Trip To Mughli In Rusholme

Recently I visited Mughli in Rusholme, Manchesters ‘curry mile’. It was late and a last minute decision following an event at the Manchester Academy as we felt like a change from our usual post gig Indian restaurant, Zouk.

I’ve always loved the vibe around Rusholme but never found a restaurant where the standard of food quite lives up to it. I’ve been keeping my eye on Mughli for a while and loved the sound of their menu, especially the ‘street food’ section so when I realised how close to the Academy they were it seemed the perfect opportunity to try them out.

It was ater 11pm on Sunday evening but still fairly busy both around Rusholme and in Mughli. The restaurant is much bigger than i’d expected with a couple of large dining areas and a number of smaller booths, all centered around their open tandoori clay oven or ‘charcoal pit’ as they call it. I like the decor, it felt authentic but smarter than many of the other restaurants around Rusholme which I often find a little garish, the best bit though was the smell coming from the charcoal pit which was incredible.

We were offered Papadums whilst we browsed the menu which we accepted, they arrived literally seconds later. They were nice freshly made papadums and the accompanying pickle tray was also good, I particularly enjoyed the chilli tamarind sauce.

The ‘Street Food’ section of the menu contains several dishes that I wanted to try, helpfully they offer a ‘Bombay Basket’ which contains a number of them. The Onion Bhajias, Chicken Samosa & Vegetable Samosa were all fine and reasonably tasty though perhaps not quite as spiced as I would have liked. The Spinach & Cheese Tikki and  ‘Railway Chicken’ (chicken pakora bites in a spiced mumbai batter) were absolutely delicious.

We also ordered ‘Samosa Chaat’ which is a deconstructed vegetable samosa topped with yoghurt, that chilli tamarind sauce I loved, potato, onion and chickpeas. I’m not generally a fan of ‘deconstructed’ dishes but this was loads of fun, packed with interesting flavours and textures.

I really wanted to sample something from the ‘Charcoal Pit’ but I also like to judge a restaurant on it’s curry dishes the first time I visit and being so late and having already eaten a huge amount at UmeZushi a few hours earlier couldn’t manage both.

I went for a traditional curry that i’ve eaten many times in most Indian restaurants i’ve visited regularly, ‘Chicken Madras’. This was a good version, well cooked, moist chicken in a thick rich sauce with plenty of spice and just enough heat. I felt the portion size was slightly too small but it certainly made up for it in taste.

The rice was decent and served in a copper bucket which i’ve neer seen before but really liked and the roti was excellent and seemed very fresh.

Overall, despite it being late, a rushed visit and not being able sample as much as I would have liked I really enjoyed Mughli. I’ll definitely be back and next time i’ll make an evening of it and try much more of the menu, particularly the charcoal pit section.

Date Of Visit: 17.03.2013