Trip to Oxford-Mowgli

Phew! What a weekend! At least Piglet wasn’t poorly, it was nice and warm and we had a nice relaxing Sunday planned to make up for Saturday. Oh, wait…

It’s been planned for a while but on Saturday we went back to Oxford for a bit of sightseeing, shopping and to visit family. In a rare glimmer of promise, it being half-term meant that Piglet’s swimming lesson was off this weekend. No 6am alarm clock for this family. No we were happily dozing all the way until about 6:27! That said, it still took us so long to get ready to leave the house that we missed our 9am target departure time spectacularly. (It’s always a good sign when you phone the person you’re going to visit – their first comment is “oh, are you here already?” and you have to mumble something along the lines of “only just leaving…”).

My leg still being pretty dodgy 3+ weeks after ripping something (exactly what, still TBC) in my left thigh – we drove straight to the multi-story car park in the centre of Oxford rather than parking with family and walking in. I still can’t believe the size of the new shopping centre in Oxford and emerging into the heart of it from the bowels of it’s underground car park only exacerbates that. I should point out that I know Oxford pretty well having spent the first 18 years of my life there. Being the university city that it is, not much changes in the main city centre. But, a year ago, the fairly small Westgate centre was transformed from a dated shopping corridor with it’s own Primark into a large multi-level shopping plaza including roof terrace dining area with views of Oxfords famous skyline.

In was on said roof terrace that I’d decided to take my wife, Piglet and one of Piglet’s grannies out for lunch. It’s not often that I come up with a place for us to eat out on my own – it’s usually a well researched co-decision by the two of us; or a default back to somewhere we’ve eaten previously without issue. But this time, there was a chain that I’ve been to twice with work that I knew would work fairly well. I first went to Mowgli in the Corn Exchange in Manchester, a sort of Indian tapas restaurant, on a work night out when a few colleagues and I went to visit a CHP factory in Salford. We stumbled on it really but the food was delicious and they had a good range of milk-free and vegan options. I then found myself in Oxford for a work meeting with some of the same people a few months later and we were delighted to see that there was another branch of Mowgli there. Ever since I’ve been thinking that I’d take the family when we next went.

I don’t go back to Oxford that much considering how long it was my home. My ‘family home’ was sold shortly after I left to University and as a result much of my family and friends all left at the same time. As much as I liked the place as a child/teenager; I didn’t really have many reasons to go back after leaving. Interestingly – I’m still good friends with quite a decent sized group from school. We try and make a point of getting together at least once a year for a long weekend away. The purpose and nature of the weekends have changed significantly in the 15 years since we left as marriage and kids changes the context… It’s not really since leaving Oxford and coming back with people who don’t know it as well that I appreciate how beautiful it is – it’s easy to take the skyline spires for granted when it’s all you’ve known.

We turned up to Mowgli bang on midday on Saturday, pretty much the first clientele in the restaurant. We were sat into a rope lined booth with plenty of space for the four of us. Sensibly (if a little grudgingly) deciding to sit on the solid seating rather than the rope swing seats next to us. It has to be said the decor is particularly attractive in wood and brick with lots of lights.

The main menu and allergen menu were short and straightforward. A fairly targeted menu with a handful of appealing options for starters, main courses, tapas style options, rices and breads. A quick cross check against the allergen menu ruled out a handful of options with no real surprises (butter chicken contains milk – got it). I did have a slight panic that everything might contain soya, realising as we got there that I had probably had only been looking for milk as an allergen when I made a mental note of it being “good for allergies” previously.

We ordered a chicken ginger curry, rice, puri, dhal (noted as possible to order without milk on request) and tamarind treacle potatos to share across the three of us. My mum preferring, as always, to eat nocturnally it would seem. The food arrived fairly quickly (but not concerningly quickly, if you know what I mean) and all pretty much at the same time. They operate a “Wagamama” style service where dishes are brought out when they’re ready rather than as designated courses.

Everything was delicious. Particularly the puri and the tamarind treacle potatoes. Piglet happily worked his way through as much of the rice and bread as we’d let him. He seemed to enjoy the rest although the curry and potatoes were a little spicy for him. Our lunch (including a beer for mum and a ginger beer for me) came in at under £10 per person. For the quality of food, that seems particularly good value. I’ll definitely go again when we next go back to Oxford. In fact, that will probably be Christmas shopping so not too far away!