Manjimup, Southern Forests
Karri Lodge: “Dinner first, then the casino room”
That is how I wanted Karri Lodge to run when I opened its doors on Mottram Street. The kitchen serves country food from half past four, Wednesday to Sunday: pies, roasts, trout and puddings made with whatever the Southern Forests are growing. Beyond the dining room, a casino room holds five tables of roulette, blackjack and poker, played with chips that have no money value. Nothing is played online and there is no app, so everything happens in person, for adults aged 18 and over. Booking a dinner table and booking a place at the tables are two separate requests.
16:30Kitchen opens
5Tables
18+Adults only
22:30Doors close
A word from the founder
“A good table is built, not bought”
What does a town of forests and orchards want from an evening out? I asked myself that for years, sanding table legs in a workshop at the back of Mottram Street, and the answer I kept reaching was simple: a hot dinner, a warm room, and something to do with your hands afterwards that is not a screen.
My name is Lachlan Griffiths. I am a cabinetmaker by trade, and the five tables in the casino room of Karri Lodge are mine, cut from jarrah and marri offcuts and covered in green cloth. They were the first things I made for the lodge, before the kitchen was fitted, and I still oil them myself on Mondays.
The hall itself was built as a packing shed, long and timber-framed, with a high roof and good light. The kitchen sits at one end and the dining room fills the middle. Beyond it, through a pair of tall doors, is the room where roulette, blackjack and poker are dealt. There are no pokies and no gaming machines, only tables.
Nobody is hurried between the two. Some guests eat and go home, and some come only for the tables; most do both, and take the evening at a country pace. I am usually near the green door, and I am happy to explain anything.
Country food
Pies, roasts, trout and puddings from the forests.
Hand-built tables
Five tables in jarrah, oiled every Monday.
Adults only
The casino room admits guests aged 18 and over.
Chips, not cash
Every game is played with chips without value.
The country kitchen
“Cook what the forest is growing”
Gareth Clarke, our head chef, buys within an hour's drive wherever he can. Trout comes from the streams towards Pemberton, cherries and apples from the orchards around the town, and in the cold months a little local truffle finds its way into butter and potatoes. The menu changes with what arrives at the back door.
The cooking is plain and generous: meat pies with proper pastry, a roast on Sundays, pumpkin soup with damper, and puddings that take a spoon and a clear afternoon. Tea, coffee, lemonade and sparkling water are served all evening.
Forest produce
Trout, cherries, apples and truffle in their season.
Sunday roast
Lamb or beef, with all the trimmings, from half past four.
Tea and cake
Scones, lamingtons and a pot of tea until closing.
Around the lodge
“The lodge, seen from the road and from the table”
Find us
“The green door on Mottram Street”
Where
38 Mottram Street, Manjimup WA 6258
Telephone and email
+61 8 9771 4286 · hello@karrilodge.com
When
Wednesday to Sunday, 16:30 – 22:30
House habits
“Six things we ask of every guest”
The casino room is for guests aged 18 and over, and a photo card is checked at the green door.
Chips are counters with no money value; they are not sold, exchanged or taken from the room.
Mobile phones are silenced in the dining room and put away completely at the tables.
Please wait for the croupier to open play before touching the cards or the chips.
Keep conversation low at the tables, and keep opinions on other players' choices to yourself.
If you need a break, stand and walk to the verandah; nobody asks why, and your seat is held.
First time here?
“What happens when I arrive?”
- What should I expect at the door?
- A green door, a lamp above it and a host, Renee Wells, who takes your name and your coat. If you are bound for the casino room, she checks identification there. Dinner guests are shown straight to a table.
- Do I have to eat before I play?
- No, though most guests do. Dinner and the tables are separate invitations, booked separately. You may eat and leave, play without eating, or do both in either order.
- Is there anything I must bring?
- Only photo identification if you are going to the tables. Everything else is provided. Chips are issued at the table and collected again, and no payment of any kind is needed to sit down.
- Can I play something I have never tried?
- Certainly. Megan Atkinson and the other croupiers explain each game as it is dealt, slowly, in plain words. Nobody is rushed, and a question asked halfway through a hand is welcomed.
- What are the opening hours?
- Wednesday to Sunday, 16:30 – 22:30. The kitchen takes its last orders at half past eight, the tables close at ten and the doors close at half past ten. The lodge is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The table games room
“Five tables, and the lamps kept low”
The casino room has one roulette wheel, two blackjack tables and two poker tables, dealt by hand by Megan Atkinson and her colleagues. Texas Hold'em and Omaha are played on most nights, and the older games, Seven Card Stud and Five Card Draw, appear on Thursday evenings.
Every game runs on chips. They have no money value, are not sold or exchanged, and never leave the room. There are no bets, no prizes and no machines; the evening ends with a name on a board when there is a tournament, and otherwise with a handshake at the door.
Roulette
One wheel, spun at a gentle country pace.
Blackjack
Two tables, six seats each, friendly company.
Poker
Two tables with Hold'em, Omaha, Stud and Draw.
House lightSeen from Mottram Street
House light
How to read the lamp on Mottram Street
A lamp over the door tells passers-by what the lodge is doing, the way a light on a coast tells a ship where it is.
- One flashdoors open, tables set
- Two flasheskitchen busy, dining room filling
- Three flashescasino tables open in the casino room
- Steady lightlast orders called, evening winding down
Reserve
Reserve a night at the lodge
Tell us whether you want a dinner table, a place at the casino tables, or both, and how many are coming. Renee Wells replies to every request herself.