New tenants introduce Thai restaurant into Maidenhead town centre pub

The new tenants of a Maidenhead town centre pub have introduced a new Thai restaurant to the venue.

Muhammad Nasir and his partner Phannita Chimplee have taken over The Vine pub in Market Street and transformed it into The Vine Pub & Thai Restaurant.

Prior to the takeover, the Brakspear pub had been closed since July last year.

Mr Nasir said the pair had been searching for a pub in the area, having previously spent time running restaurants in Swansea.

“This time we wanted to run [a] pub and restaurant-style [venue],” he said.

Mr Nasir said the historic nature of the pub and its town centre site, made this a ‘perfect’ location.

The venue officially opened its doors on Friday, January 16 and saw about 45 to 50 people attend the launch.

Mr Nasir said the feedback was ‘really, really nice’.

“I put a couple of photos [of] The Vine pub & Thai restaurant on Facebook.

“That’s been really interesting. Nearly 200 people have liked it.”

He added that several people have been messaging with well wishes such as ‘good luck’ and ‘wonderful’.

He added that around 10 people visited and had food on Tuesday, having heard about the opening of the venue through Facebook.

Pub and business owners in the area have also been showing their support for the team.

“The pub community and surrounding people, they’re so lovely.

“They want this place to be successful,” he added.

Mr Nasir believes that this is the ‘best area’ for a Thai restaurant as there is ‘not a lot of competition around’.

He said that so far customers have been visiting and they’re ‘loving the food’, which is prepared in-house.

“It’s not only about dishes, it’s the [actual] flavour,” Mr Nasir added.

“We kept it authentic. We make our own sauces, authentic Thai sauces.

“We prepare spring rolls ourselves here in Thai style.

“So that all makes it different.”

The venue offers ‘a lot of options for customers to choose from’, including a range of protein options such as beef, chicken, prawns, mixed seafood, vegetarian, duck and pork to add to their dishes.

He said the prices are ‘very reasonable’ and customers can enjoy dishes such as Thai green curry, Thai red curry, Pad Thai, Thai special fried rice, massaman curry, Thai soups and traditional Thai salads.

The venue also offers a range of starters including chicken satay,

vegetable spring rolls, and salt and pepper squid.

Mr Nasir said the pub will have its own website and customers will also be able to order food through independent platforms such as Just Eat.

The Vine Pub & Thai Restaurant is currently open from 11am to 11pm, seven days a week.