Chaplais Kitchen — Restaurant in Cheltenham

Came with a party of three on a Saturday evening with high hopes.

Small but pleasant enough surroundings.

Ordered French Onion soup and humous to start and we all chose Cottage pie for our mains.

These should be simple enough dishes for any decent kitchen.

Soup was okay, although the cheese wasn’t melted onto the croutons to create the crust you expect.

Humous was also tasty enough.

Sadly, the cottage pies were a massive letdown. All three were served at the same time and all three were very different temperatures. The pie appeared to have a bolognese sauce as it’s base which was unwelcome when what you want is a hearty British meal on an crisp autumn night. The consistency of each pie was also very different, from firm to soupy. Imagine Goldilocks going cottage pie tasting and you’ll get the idea.

We would have complained to the staff if any single one of them had done what you expect and come to ask how our food was. But they didn’t.

Indifference or inexperience? Hard to tell.

We ordered a bottle of red to go with the meal, and it was probably the star of the show.

One last comment…

We booked a table here after checking their menu out on their website.

On the website, our main courses were priced at £17 and our wine at £24 per bottle.

In the restaurant, they were £22 for the mains and £27 for the wine.

When we paid the bill we mentioned all the above and were offered a 10% discount. That’s not as much as the price increase from their online to in-house menu.

These folks need to remember that they are not in the business of serving food to people, but serving...

Lovely hidden gem serving a menu of mainly comfort food classics at reasonable prices. My wife and I had three great courses and thoroughly enjoyed it. Rack of ribs was the largest we'd ever seen and was beautifully cooked. Thai mushroom soup and anti pasti starters were generous and tasty, and I loved the Affogato. It was very simple as expected but also served with a coffee tequilla too, which made it stand out. Other patrons' food also looked and smelt fantastic (pizza, cheeseboard, pasta). Lovely Aperol Spritz and wine accompanied the meal, and staff were friendly and efficient. We'll definitely be back for a meal but will also try a sandwich or pastry for lunch, which will be nice sat in the outside seating area. It may not be an obvious choice but is certainly serving...

What can I say about this wonderful little hidden gem of a restaurant? The food was to die for, the location is basically a deli upstairs with a restaurant downstairs. We had a table booked for 5 people @ 8pm and I'm really sad to say that we were the only 5 people in the restaurant which really made me sad because the place is utterly fantastic. Please, please, please Cheltenham!! go for evening meals here, it's romantic, it's cozy and the service was excellent!! oh and have a mentioned how mouth wateringly brilliant the food is?

If I was to make any suggestions, it would be to get a good espresso machine in and increase your wine list but that certainly does not detract from this little haven of happiness, just sublime in every way imaginable....