MR Kipling (Rudyard) made exceedingly good tales. None better than The Jungle Book, inevitably filtered through Disney. Man cub Mowgli versus his tiger nemesis Shere Khan, it’s an uncanny harbinger of a contemporary culture clash along the epic Oxford Road/Wilmslow Road bus corridor.
In one corner Nisha Katona’s Mowgli, due to open its second Manchester branch – on January 21 in Bruntwood’s shiny new University Green development on Oxford Road.
Awarded the MBE in the recent New Year’s Honours list, barrister and Indian street food champion Nisha (below) will have created seven branches inside five years with further to follow. Understandably Mowgli is No. 17 Fastest Growing British company in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list and boasts a street cred rare among chains
Two miles further along in Rusholme you’ll find a surviving Curry Mile pioneer, Shere Khan, whose chief exec the Curry Mile pioneer Shere Khan, got her OBE back in 2007. These days it represents old curry house values against the likes of Bundobust, Indian Tiffin Room, Zouk and Asha’s. Even Rusholme itself is more diverse foodwise.
Back at University Green the latest Mowgli looks far more ambitious than the Corn Exchange venue, featuring a floating Indian Temple inspired ‘door on the wall’, a living tree, as well as hand carved pillars and signature lighting. All designed by Nisha herself.
Similarly hands on, Nisha still handpicks her kitchen team ensuring that they are complete ‘curry virgins’, so that each and every Mowgli chef can be trained from scratch with no preconceptions.
Nisha, also a cookbook writer and telegenic presenter, told ToM: “Mowgli is all about the smash and grab of fresh, light Indian food. This makes it perfect brain food for the exacting appetites of the university students and staff. I have loved designing this Mowgli: light, airy, twinkling and organic. In my mind, I want Apple shop meets Indian night market. From a design aspect, it’s my aim to create a home from home in the restaurants.
“I meticulously design every Mowgli inspired by the broken-down temple behind my Grandmother’s Varanasi home. I have such vivid memories of these vine covered temples behind her house. Wild monkeys roam free there, so the iconic monkey for me is a symbol of my childhood and the food heritage of which I am totally obsessed.
“The monkey climbing the brick wall, the endless twines and vines and chaos. It is around these elements that I design every site. It’s not grand or plush but its honestly home.”
The whole project sounds a mite exotic alongside other tenants of this University-partnered ‘retail and leisure destination’ – Loungers, Five Guys, Pret A Manger and a now ubiquitous Co-op Food Store. But with home-influenced food this attractive…
Mowgli, University Green, 124 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9RD.
