Dinner at Happy Mood Club means North Otago produce over a real charcoal grill, a short menu that changes with the season, and a dining room where nobody hurries you out. If the evening runs long, the poker room is through the back.
We keep the board short on purpose. When a grower from up the valley rings with something good, it goes on the menu that week and something else quietly comes off.
The grill runs on charcoal, the meat comes from farms around North Otago, and the kitchen is small enough that the person cooking your steak can tell you where it came from. Most plates also travel through to the poker room on card nights.
Poker players eat from this same menu, just at a different table. Ask the floor what arrived this week.
Aged on the bone, cut thick, finished over charcoal with marrow butter and watercress.
Smoked garlic, charred spring onions, a little mint. Cooks fast and rests properly.
Brined overnight, grilled on the bone, cider jus and apple mostarda.
Pan-roasted with brown butter and capers. Off the board when the weather keeps the fleet home.
Steamed with white wine and garlic, grilled bread for the broth.
Whatever looked best that morning, cooked simply with lemon and herb butter.
The plate that convinces steak people. Horseradish cream and rye crisp on the side.
Slow over the coals, whipped feta, toasted seeds. Works as a main or a side.
Whatever the market had that week, over the charcoal with salsa verde.
Eating in the card room? The kitchen sends plates to the poker tables until close, and the snacky stuff travels best.
Half the dining room orders one of these before they even sit down properly.
We started dry-aging in a secondhand fridge out the back because the steaks we could buy weren't good enough. Now the room smells like the grill by 6pm, and a good few orders drift over to the poker tables after dessert.
It only goes on the board when the boats get out. Some weeks it's there four nights, some weeks none, and regulars have learned to ring ahead and ask before they drive in.
Built for a vegan mate who kept getting offered salad. It looks like steak tartare, eats rich, and now gets ordered by people who also ordered the ribeye.
The wine list leans on Central Otago, the whisky shelf keeps growing, and there's a house lager we had brewed for the card nights.
You don't have to sit in the dining room to drink well. We run bottles and trays through to the poker tables until the kitchen and bar close, so nobody has to fold a good hand to fetch a round.
See the poker nightsA couple of producers we rate, plus a bigger bottle list if you're settling in.
Cold and simple, made by a local brewer who also plays here on Fridays.
Scotch mostly, a few oddities. Ask what's new, the bar staff have opinions.
Proper espresso and the usual non-alcoholic shelf, right up to the last hand.
Three of us run the kitchen most nights. One grill, one oven, no microwave anywhere in the building, which keeps the timing honest.
Service gets interesting on poker nights because half the tickets say a table number and half say a seat number. Same food, same grill, just delivered past the felt.
"I'd rather do twelve dishes well than thirty badly. The menu stays short so the grill stays fast."
DMInes K.
head chef, since 2019
Mostly the grill. Sometimes the room.
Walk-ins are welcome most nights and we'll always try to fit you in. On Friday and Saturday the room fills early, and on poker nights it fills earlier, so a quick booking saves the wait.
Closed Monday and Tuesday. The grill rests, we prep, and nobody answers the phone before midday.
Tell us when and how many, and we'll keep a table warm. Staying for the poker after? Even better.