Now, you know we don’t normally get too excited about chains around here, but we’ll make an exception when there’s free and discounted food involved.
Mowgli, the Indian street-food restaurant chain founded by former barrister Nisha Katona, has had a bit of a makeover at its Brighton restaurant – and it celebrated by giving away free meals last Friday.
The Dukes Lane restaurant reopened after a refurb on Friday 28th August and the first 100 people through the doors from midday got their meal completely free. But don’t worry if you weren’t quite quick enough (or didn’t read this article in time), there’s still a pretty excellent consolation prize: everyone gets 50 percent off food throughout launch week (until 3rd September).
We got a first look at the revamped restaurant yesterday (and a trip to the late 90s courtesy of Phats and Small) and, while the layout and colour scheme have changed, Mowgli hasn’t abandoned its fondness for fairy lights. There are loads of them. It’s all looking rather twinkly and almost (shh) Christmassy in there, with a mix of booths, larger tables and different seating areas – plus one of the restaurant’s signature swing seats has survived the makeover.
More importantly, we tried some of the food. The sticky chicken and the chaat bombs – crispy puri shells filled with chick peas, spiced yoghurt, tamarind, coriander and other good stuff – were particularly good. And we also tried a new dish that you’ll only find in the Brighton restaurant: Mowgli’s slightly spicy take on fish and chips.
Other new additions to the menu include Gunpowder Chicken, Yoghurt Chat Bombs, Aunty Geeta’s Prawn Curry and Mother Butter Chicken.
The Brighton restaurant, which has been open for almost four years, is the first of Mowgli’s 27 UK restaurants to get the new look. The redesign is intended to make the space brighter during the day, with more varied seating and a bigger focus on the bar, before all those fairy lights come into their own after dark.
But interior design can wait, more importantly, there’s free food up for grabs first.
