I tried the Christmas feasting menu in this beautiful Edinburgh city centre restaurant

Head here for a palate-resetting curry

I think I’ve peaked too soon.

Thanks to various festive soirees, I’ve already done a few rounds of turkey, Christmas pudding, mulled wine, mince pies, and all the trimmings, and it’s still a couple of weeks until the big C.

The only thing that will reset my prematurely jaded tastebuds is curry.

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I need a reminder that not all food is beige, wrapped in bacon and sloshed in brown meaty gravy. Gimme herbs, spice and all things nice.

Thus, I headed to Edinburgh’s one-year-old branch of restaurateur, author and presenter Nisha Katona’s restaurant, Mowgli, to try their Christmas Feasting Menu, which is available until January 4 and also being served at their other Scottish outlet on St Vincent Street in Glasgow.

This offering is most notable for being something of a bargain, at £35pp for four courses, including a glass of Prosecco, a bottle of Cobra or a Coke.

Mowgli feasting menuMowgli feasting menu
Mowgli feasting menu | Contributed

That’s practically the same price as a couple of festive sandwiches at Pret.

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And, you get to eat it in this beautiful space - a former bank, once serious and now whimsical, with its swing seating, tethered to the ceiling by ropes, and festoons of icy white fairy-lights, including those that are strung across their bare-branched tree in the dining room.

No Christmas music. This is a spa-like space.

Our table began the feasting session with a clutch of yogurt chat bombs, which resemble hatched eggs, after the chick has legged it. These delicate puri shells are full of the billed dairy ingredient, plus chopped red onion, fleshy chickpeas, sweet and tangy tamarind, and coriander, for a single soft-centred mouthful.

I remember having these at another restaurant in the Capital, and the owner insisting on feeding them by hand to my husband.

Anyway, he did it himself this time, like a big boy.

Once you’ve polished these off, there are three options in the ‘Street Chat and Street Meat’ section, which sounds a bit like it might work as a new TV dating show hosted by Davina McCall or Anna Richardson.

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We tried them all, and the clear winner was the Himalayan cheese toast, with crunchy bread and a thick 18-tog duvet topping of cheddar, coriander, more red onion, and green and red chilli, plus some fiery lime pickle on the side.

The chicken poppers are decent, thanks to a sturdy garam masala batter, and the fenugreek kissed fries - aka chips dressed up in a colourful sari - consist of Lego-brick-sized cubed potatoes skooshed with tangy sauce and sprinkled with masala and turmeric.

For your main course, take your choice of double curry Tiffin Box. These include an Office Worker’s Tiffin, with a meat and veg curry included, and which I ordered under false pretences as I now work from home. Or, go for the vegetarian Indian School Tiffin, or the Vegan School Tiffin.

All come with rice and are total pot-luck.

To be honest, I was completely confused about what arrived, with six tin dishes landing like retro flying saucers, but I just shut my mouth and ate.

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There was a triple poultry whammy, which included a portion of wholesome and gingery agra chicken that was holding my attention more than anything else.

I also enjoyed the supergreen chicken curry, which had a spinach based sauce and pops of fragrant cumin, and the house chicken curry, with its balmy and coconutty vibe.

There were also three veggie things - a chickpea curry, with legumes bobbing about in a tomatoey-sauce, and a couple of portions of a russet-coloured and relatively light daal. We felt very spoiled by the quantity, though we would’ve liked a tad more rice.

For pudding, it’s a brownie or mango sorbet. We tried both. The icing sugar-dusted chocolatey slab is topped by a large scoop of vanilla ice-cream, dotted with pomegranate seeds like a snowman’s eyes. The cake is a decent example of the genre - gooey-middled, not desiccated.

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However, their mango sorbet is the better option and served in a waffle-y cone, which is slotted into a stand to keep it upright. I needed a human-sized version of that, to get me to my feet after all that food.

So, if you have prematurely sickened yourself when it comes to pigs in blankets, this is the place to be.

Curry will sort out your tastebuds in time for the big day.

Mowgli, 20 Hanover Street, Edinburgh (0131-560 2510, www.mowglistreetfood.com)

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