The Railway — Restaurant in Cheltenham

I attended a beer and food pairing event at The Railway in Cheltenham last night with some friends, and it was a fantastic experience.

Matt, who curated the beer selections, gave insightful explanations about how the drinks were chosen to “complement, contrast, or cut” through the flavors of the food. The dishes were all Thai food from the venues authentic Thai menu.

The evening kicked off with delicious prawn crackers paired with Boon Oude Geuze Lambic Beer, known as the 'champagne of the beer world.' This beer has been brewed since 1975, featuring a unique blend of Lambics aged in oak barrels, resulting in a complex, fruity flavor with hints of grapefruit and a gentle sourness – a perfect opener to the evening.

I’d not tried the food here, and I had not tried any of the beers being paired so I was excited with how well this simple snack and fancy beer went so well together.

The “first official course” was a Thom Ka Soup from Central Thailand, paired with Schneider Weisse, a classic German wheat beer. This match was ideal, as the beer's smooth texture worked beautifully with the soup's rich coconut flavors and the little kick of spice.

Next came the Spicy Crispy Chicken Wings, fried to perfection and seasoned with Thai Zabbs powder, chili, and toasted rice powder. The pairing with Keller Pils, an English interpretation of a Keller Lager brewed by Lost and Grounded in Bristol. This was probably the hottest dish and my favourite of the evening. Apparently chicken wings like this paired with a Lager are a fail safe combo and one I’ll definitely be having again.

We then had a serving of Sen Chan Pad, a dish similar to Pad Thai but with its own unique history and variations. It was paired with two beers: Dusk, brewed at Clavell and Hind Brewery, and Til Dawn from Gloucester Brewery. The beers have the same base ingredients but slight variations have them result in two very different end products. Pairing the two with the one dish brought out the dish's complex flavours, showcasing two great beers and some of the potential versatility of pairing beer with food.

The finale was a standout, flavour filled Beef Massaman curry paired with Erdinger Dunkel 1886, a beer that added additional depth to the rich, spiced dish. This beer was pretty special and I would like to try this combination again too.

Overall, this event was a relaxing, well done evening of learning more about food and drink - Matt has been in the industry a while and loved sharing his knowledge and answering our questions. The pairings were thoughtfully curated, and each beer enhanced the flavours of the Thai food.

I feel like I learned a lot and could try doing some pairings of my own - which I think is what you’d hope for from a night like this.

There is lots of heat, spice and lemongrass used in Thai food, so as long as your into those I can highly recommend the menu at the Railway, and encourage you to sign up for events and experiences like this when they...

Simple, tasty and authentic Thai Food in a friendly and laid back environment. This is a pub so they do not come to the table to take your order you go to the bar to order but this is no issue and to be fair nowhere do they profess that they take table orders. Ordering at the bar was simple and quick no issues. The duty manager recognised me and I recognised him he used to be a manager at harvester. Very laid back friendly chap and the young lady working with him was equally caring. The starter the young lady checked all was okay with the food and during the main the duty manager personally came to the table to check all was okay. On leaving he checked again that everything was okay and was genuinely interested to know if we would be coming back. To which I answered yes definitely. The surroundings are cosy it is essentially a dimly lit pub with lots of candles and soothing Thai style music serving Thai food. We had 3 alcoholic drinks, 2 starters, 2 mains and 2 rice sides and paid around £45 which we felt was perfectly reasonable given the quality. Just bare in mind this is a pub and also from what I can see they only do Thai food but they do it well so if you're wanting fish and chips or sausages this may not be the place for you. The menu is fresh and updated every day depending on the chef's ingredients and ideas that day so you can be sure of variety. A lovely meal would definitely return thank you. Only slight downside was no deserts but the manager explained they are looking into this but they want to focus for now on getting the starters and mains spot on before adding more which is fair enough. Bring on some deep fried ice cream or Thai pancakes and the whole thing will be...

Having heard good reviews about the food and portion sizes I was extremely disappointed. I ordered the Nahm Tok Makua Paow – BBQ Grilled Aubergine Salad, this came out a sloppy mess, swimming in a watery liquid, with a whole boiled egg balancing on top,(very poor presentation)the aubergine had not been BBQ chargrilled, and it was inedible. The Pla Pad Pong Karee - Stir Fried Sea Bass Curry, was also inedible, the sauce had split, when this was questioned, we were told this is how it should be, insulting our intelligence, this meal was also not eaten, there was no offer to replace the dish. The Slow Cooked Beef Massaman was too salty and sweet with barely any beef. The rice potions were very small, barely enough for one person. Goong Pow – Salt And Pepper Grilled BBQ Prawns, these were over cooked and tasteless, again questioning if they had been BBQ’d. Pickled Radish Ajat, this was over sweet and inedible. We were told that all the food was cooked to order but it felt like it was at the end of the days service and they couldn’t be bothered.

When we were asked if we were happy with the meal the response we gave was met with hostility, and rudeness, informing us that everyone in the restaurant enjoyed their food. We were offered a complimentary round of drinks, however we declined and left. We are all very well travelled, have eaten all over the world and experienced and eaten traditional Thai street food and in restaurants both in the Uk and in Thailand and this had to be one of the worst experiences we have had of Thai food. A very disappointing evening that was meant to be a...