We're Happy Mood Club, a grill room and a live poker venue sharing one roof on Towey Street. This page is who we are, how we got here, and why we still run the floor ourselves.
Short version: the food came first, the cards followed, and at some point the poker side of the building stopped being a side.
The front still looks like a plain restaurant. That's on purpose.
2019
We open the grill room
Signed the lease on a tired space at 17 Towey Street, sanded the floors ourselves and opened with a short menu and a long bar.
2020
The first poker table
One secondhand table went into the back room over winter. Diners started staying on after dessert to watch, then to play.
2022
The big rebuild
We gutted the back and rebuilt it as a proper poker room: six tables, new felt, lamps that don't cook your eyes at midnight.
2023
The kitchen catches up
Kitchen hours stretched to keep pace with the poker nights, and the Sunday long lunch started so the dining room could have the building to itself once a week.
Today
Same building, same us
Seventy-two seats, six tables going Thursday to Saturday, and a phone that still gets answered by a person. Find us at 17 Towey Street, Holmes Hill.
Est. 2019Towey StreetCharcoal grillGreen feltEst. 2019Towey StreetCharcoal grillGreen felt
House rules
How we think
Run it like a place we'd want to sit in
Most decisions here get made with one test: would we still enjoy this room if it wasn't ours? It keeps the menu honest, keeps the poker friendly, and stops us buying furniture we can't fix.
Cook food we can explain in one sentence.
A dealt hand is a social thing: no screens, no apps, people across a table.
Regulars get remembered, newcomers get welcomed. Both are easy to spot.
If something's wrong, tell us tonight and we fix it tonight.
Small team, no layers. Whoever picks up the phone probably poured your drink last week.
DK Harper
Owner, does a bit of everything
Signed the lease at 27 and still fixes the dishwasher. Writes this website, if you couldn't tell.
Ines K.
Head chef
Came out of a winery kitchen, cooks what she'd eat after a long shift and won't plate anything she can't defend.
Tommy W.
Dealer & floor lead
Runs every poker night we put on. Will teach you the game without making you feel daft about it.
Priya S.
Bar
Knows the whisky shelf better than the rest of us put together, and she'll remember your order after two visits.
Want to work here? If you can deal a clean game of poker or carry three plates, email happymoodclub@gmail.com and tell us why.
03 / side projectsWork we're proud of
Stuff we built or started around here
A venue is never really finished. These are the projects that stuck.
2022 reno
The card room rebuild
Three weeks of dust and one long argument about chair heights gave us a poker room that finally deserved the name. Fresh felt, decent lighting, and a chip counter that works.
Sundays
The long lunch format
Shared plates, slow roasts, cards off. Built so the dining side gets the whole building once a week.
Collab
House lager
We asked a local brewery for a lager that drinks well next to a steak and a losing hand. They nailed it on the second try.
Monthly
The club tournament
A monthly poker tournament that turned into a small institution. The winner's name goes on the board by the bar, which means some very competitive handwriting up there by now.
Plenty of guests never touch a card and that's fine. The kitchen earns its keep on its own.
Poker stays in the room
Live cards and actual faces across the felt. We like the game best when you can read the person you're beating, so that's the only kind we run.
The door works both ways
Come for one drink and leave, stay till close, bring your dad, come alone. Nobody keeps score on how long you sit.
The card room is adults only. You need to be 18 or older past the dining room, and everything we run is social, in-person play at the venue. The game stays in the room.
Since 2019
Meet us in person
Reading about a place only gets you so far. Come by for dinner, watch a few hands of poker, or ring us on +64 3 442 7196. Somebody on the floor picks up.
