Thursday, 9 January 2014

Mughli, Rusholme.

I wonder, can I do a post about Mughli again even though I had pretty much the same food as last time? You bet I can, I'll just waffle on a bit first. (Skip this bit if you like). I've heard the criticism that bloggers all go to the same places. Well yes of course, this is because many restaurants are pretty average to be honest, so people who tend to obsess about great food will always be attracted to the best. Bloggers don't always agree but some places seem to get almost unanimous praise. The Parkers Arms is one such place (that's because it's bloody brilliant), and Mughli seems to be another. There's not much to criticise about Mughli, but if there was, I get the feeling that they'd take it on the chin and try and get to the bottom of it and improve things if necessary.
As long as the criticism is hopefully informed and constructive, (and not unnecessarily rude) I think it's fair. Especially if they're taking my hard earned money. I have to face criticism in my day job as an illustrator every day too. Sometimes they're right sometimes they're wrong, but they're the client so I just have to grin and bear it I'm afraid. I just don't take it personally, that's the key. (Not always so easy I'll acknowledge). Besides, it's only an opinion, not everyone will agree. Most people just look at the photos and skim the text anyway. I recently went to a new place, Volta, and Luke the co-owner welcomed honesty. He knew I wouldn't be criticizing for the sake of it, to try and score points, if anything it'd be helpful to him. Turns out it was pretty good already, but if I just went in and said it was all totally amazing from day one, what help would that be to him? Another recent place we visited clearly didn't like the minor (and fair) criticisms we had. That's up to them of course, but we won't be back, there's plenty of other superior competitors we can go to. Anyway have I waffled on enough yet?
This photo has to be included every time.
The only thing I can think of that would improve Mughli for me would be a few more unusual dishes. I recently had lambs tongue at The Sticky Walnut, I could really see that working in their style. But maybe it wouldn't sell? (Oh and really great beer on tap).
Having said that, I was conservative with my ordering, as I had more or less the same as last time. But when you do that you notice little things, in this case all good. The poppadoms and dips are always decent at Mughli. My favourite dip, the yoghurt sauce is thick and creamy unlike many other Indian restaurants. They think we won't notice that they've watered it down; we do. Yes, it had to be the Mughli Lamb Chops (£6.00) yet again. They didn't disappoint either, the blackened charcoal against the tender juicy lamb, it's just so gorgeous. I'm yet to try better. The Tamarind Masala Fish (£4.50) was lovely too.
Haz sent out his updated version of the Pani Puri. He wanted to know if it was better than last time. To be honest I can't remember, but we all enjoyed it anyway.
Mrs Bacon's brother and wife who were over from Australia were very impressed. (They say you can't get a good Indian over there, so were wanting their fix before returning).
The Nihari I've decided is my favourite mains that they do. So silky and creamy in it's meaty richness, no wonder it made my Favourite 50 dishes of last year. Ditto the Butter Chicken.  Aubergine Mash and Peter’s bread are both absolute necessities always.

On leaving I told Haz I was starting a post Christmas diet and to not expect me back for a while. I very much doubt that I'll keep to that promise. 8/10.
Soundtrack; The Promised Land - Joe Smooth.

Mughli on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

  1. Hi Scott

    Thank you again for another fab write-up, your photography, as always, amazes me!

    You'll have to send me an e-mail about your thoughts about our current beer menu as we have a new drinks menu coming up soon and it'll great to get your input. Every time I speak to the other bloggers, they always cite you as the man who knows about his beer!

    In terms of your comment re: more experimental dishes, as much as I would LOVE to experiment more with unusual ingredients, it's always been difficult (in Rusholme, at least) to do so. There's just not enough demand for it there, which usually leads to a great deal of waste.

    When I first took over the reigns here, to say that the menu was huge would be an understatement! I was naive, and so in my desire to replicate what our city-centre counterparts were doing, the restaurant concept was much more formal in terms of plating, decor & service and the menu had everything from salads, infusions to even 'English Food'!.

    It wasn't a massive success for us. What had been though, was the gradual move to a more casual dining experience and a much more concise and quality menu, rather than filling out space with rehashed ingredients for the sake of an illusion of 'variety'.

    Unpopular items such as our Chicken Livers (which I didn't even think were considered that unusual), kidneys, magaz, paya etc. had slowly dwindled away and were replaced with more popular items that hadn't been seen in many restaurants but were commonplace along the road-sides of India and Pakistan - the Kati Roll, the Pani Puri and Samosa Chaat for example.

    We do however, love the opportunity to be more innovative when the opportunity allows - the 'Jungle Book' secret menu or the Bloggers Christmas Do, I'll give you a heads up when we do again - we've got a specials menu, a Sunday Banquet and a Supper Club coming up in 2014!

    See you again soon and thanks once again!

    Haz



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