Boronia Lounge: fancy dinner in an old picture theatre, then a casino room?
That's the idea. The kitchen at 57 Emu Bay Road is open every day from five with pies, salmon and warm puddings, and past the foyer the old stalls have become a long casino room with seven tables of roulette, blackjack and poker. It's all played on chips that have no money value. There's no online play and no app: you come in person, you're 18 or over, and you leave with a full stomach and perhaps a name on the honour board. A table for dinner and a seat in the casino room are two separate bookings, so tell us which you'd like.
- 17:00Kitchen opens
- 7Tables
- 18+Adults only
- 23:00Doors close
Ever eaten dinner under a picture-theatre ceiling?
“You can still hear the projector if you listen,” a regular told me on our first Saturday, and I haven't managed to talk her out of it since. I'm Aidan Fitzgerald, I opened Boronia Lounge, and I should say straight away that there's no projector. There's only a very old plaster ceiling and a lot of people eating pie beneath it.
The building on Emu Bay Road was a picture theatre for forty years, then a hardware store for another forty. When the store closed, I walked in and looked up. The ceiling was intact, the stage was behind a false wall and the ticket booth was still by the door. I couldn't leave it alone, so I didn't.
Now the old foyer and the front of the stalls are the dining room, where you'll find proper country food from five every evening. The back of the stalls, up the gentle slope, is the casino room: roulette, blackjack and poker on chips that mean nothing outside the building. There are no pokies and no gaming machines, ever.
Come for dinner and never go near the cards, or sit at a table without ordering a thing. Most people do a bit of both. If you're nervous, tell Christine at the old ticket booth and she'll sort you out.
Dinner first
A real kitchen, open every day from five.
The long room
Seven tables in the old stalls, on chips only.
Adults only
The casino room is for guests aged 18 and over.
What's cooking in the old foyer?
Glenn Fraser, our head chef, cooks Tasmanian: curried scallop pies, salmon and leatherwood honey, berries from the Meander Valley, and potatoes that taste like potatoes. He buys close to home and writes the board by hand each afternoon, so if you ask for last week's dish, expect a patient explanation.
It's honest food, not fancy food. Pies come with proper pastry, soups come with warm bread, and the puddings are the kind you'd be glad to be served at your nan's. Tea, coffee, lemonade and sparkling water keep coming all evening.
Scallop pie
Curried, golden and the one everyone orders twice.
Salmon plate
Pan-fried, with buttered potatoes and greens.
Honey pudding
Warm sponge with leatherwood honey and cream.
How does playing here actually work?
What do I play with, if there's no money?
Chips. You're handed a stack at the table, you play with it, and you hand it back when you're done. They've got no money value, and nothing you do with them can turn into cash or a reward of any kind.
Do I need to know the rules before I sit down?
Not at all. The dealer will take you through any game from the start, slowly, in plain English. Adam McDonald loves a first-timer, and the other dealers are just as patient.
Which games are on?
Roulette, blackjack and poker, nothing else. The poker is Texas Hold'em and Omaha most nights, with Seven Card Stud and Five Card Draw on Wednesdays. There are no pokies or gaming machines in the building.
Can I play from home?
No. There's no online play and no app. The tables exist only in the long room, and only for people who are standing in it. That's rather the point.
What does a tournament give the winner?
A round of applause and a name on the honour board by the old stage door, plus the title of Champion of the night. That's it. There's no money and no other reward.
How late can I play?
The tables close at half past ten, the kitchen takes its last orders at nine and the doors shut at eleven. We're open every day, 17:00 – 23:00, and the host can tell you how busy it's likely to be.
A few snaps of the old theatre
Emu Bay Road, Deloraine
Where
57 Emu Bay Road, Deloraine TAS 7304
Ring or write
+61 3 6362 5871 · bookings@boronialounge.com
Open
Every day, 17:00 – 23:00
What the valley does to our evenings
The heater's on, soup comes first and the long room is cosy and full on weekends.
Lighter plates, doors open to the lane and a tournament for the lambing crowd.
Visitors in town, queues for the scallop pie and a busy foyer.
Raspberries on the pudding board and cream with everything.
Orchard apples in the pies and the quietest tables of the year.
Seven tables where the stalls used to be
The casino room runs the length of the old stalls: two roulette wheels at the stage end, two blackjack tables in the middle and three poker tables at the back, where Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Seven Card Stud and Five Card Draw are dealt through the week. Adam McDonald and the other dealers run every table by hand.
All play is on chips. They've got no money value, you can't buy them or swap them, and they stay in the room. There are no bets, no prizes and no machines. Tournaments finish with a name on the board and a round of applause, which seems to be plenty.
Roulette
Two wheels on the old stage, dealt slowly.
Blackjack
Two tables in the middle of the room.
Poker
Three tables, four games, one friendly crowd.
Five things we ask
- The casino room's for people aged 18 and over; we check photo ID at the old ticket booth.
- Chips are just counters with no money value, so they stay in the room and can't be swapped or sold.
- Keep your voice down at the tables and your phone in your pocket.
- The dealer's call stands for the hand; if you disagree, have a quiet word with Angus afterwards.
- Be kind to each other, to the staff and to the ceiling roses.
How busy is the long room tonight?
We report the evening the way a coastal forecast reports the sea: a quick read of how lively it'll be before you set out from the valley.
Updated every evening
Grab a table at the old theatre
+61 3 6362 5871Tell us if it's dinner, the casino room or both, and how many are coming. Christine reads every request herself and replies with a smile.
Book a table