The Hunter's Lodge which housed the Shikaris that accompanied Royal Family members during their hunting trips in Gokarna Forest, is over a hundred and twenty years old. It has been carefully restored and now houses a quaint restaurant and bar and is opened on special occasions.

Hunter’s Lodge Restaurant Concept

The Hunter’s Lodge Restaurant located in a separate cottage at the Gokarna Forest Resort began its life more than one hundred and fifty years ago. The name gives away the original use of this charming cottage spread over three floors the lodge was used by Royal Hunters during their visits to Gokarna forest. Traditionally the forest itself was a private hunting ground of the Kings of Nepal, The last recorded Royal hunting party to use the Lodge took place in 1973. The Gokarna Forest Resort intends to honour the great tradition and history of the Hunter’s lodge with the creation of a Nepalese Restaurant which will become the signature Restaurant in the Resort. The Hunter’s Lodge dining experience will honour the traditional flavours of this unique Himalayan culture along with an offering of succulent grilled game and meat. The ambiance of the Hunter’s lodge will add to your tour of history with a range of seating both traditional and modern, the wildlife lamp shades will transport you back to the days when Royalty would dine in these surroundings. The ceiling and floor height is a constant reminder of the historic nobility of the Hunter’s Lodge.

Food style and Cuisine

The food on offer will be a collection of the finest Nepalese tally menu’s from six to sixteen courses, and the menu will also feature an offering of char grilled game and meat. We consider the food to be the most important aspect of our Restaurant our chef’s will create dishes with the finest ingredients and the simplest of preparation. “Top ingredients well prepared” is our kitchen mantra. The future will bring a vegetable and herb garden. It is our intention to grow the majority of vegetables and herbs that we feature on our menu. In addition to freshness and great taste it would be a great opportunity for press and public relations promotions.   
Service Style   
Just like the bygone days when Royalty would dine in the forest, we will provide you with professional, unobtrusive service. The care and simplicity of our service will allow you to focus on your enjoyment of the food and your dining partners. Your food selections can be severed for all to enjoy or specific to your plate. Our young and enthusiastic team will make every effort to ensure your every need is addressed.

Uniforms

In keeping with our historical building and décor our Staff uniforms will be a reflection of tradition and Nepalese culture. The rich colours and weight of fabric will give our service team a strong sense of their heritage and culture. We have enlisted the help of the designer and tailor who created the uniforms for the other famous Nepalese restaurant Krishnarpan.       

Restaurant organization 

We will employ a Restaurant Manager who will have overall responsibility for the day to day running of the restaurant the manager will report to the Director of Food and Beverage. The restaurant will employ a young female hostess who will be responsible to coordinate reservations, greet and seat the Hunter’s Lodge guests. The service staff will be young and trained to quality service with a full understanding and knowledge of the food menu and beverage list. As we gain in success and reputation we will introduce a wine waiter who will pair your food selection with fine wine choices. The new POS (Point of sale) software and equipment both in the dining room and the kitchen will ensure that the food orders are sent to the kitchen in a timely manor and ensure that the service staffs spend the bulk of their time in the Restaurant with their guests not in the kitchen sorting out the food orders. The New POS will also allow us to work without a cashier. When the outdoor part of the restaurant is ready for operation we can use a use hand held PDA to take guest orders which would greatly improve the timing and service delivery of the food and beverage items. In the current layout the restaurant has a capacity of 78 covers it is envisioned that the Hunter’s Lodge will have outdoor seating of 34 seats making the total cover count 112. Operating equipment is being sourced which will reflect the style and design of Nobile and majestic there of Nepal, rustic elegance will be the guiding factor. The glass and stemware will be elegant and durable; there is a need to ensure that a wide range of glassware is available to ensure correct glassware is used in a traditional application            

Kitchen and Food Production

The kitchen operation will be overseen by a Sous Chef who will report directly to the Executive chef. The Hunter’s Lodge Sous Chef will have responsibility for the daily food production and service in the kitchen. The newly outfitted kitchen will be a compact but efficient and functional space. Most food items will be completely cooked in this kitchen where our philosophy is very best ingredients simply prepared, the dessert items will be prepared in the main kitchen bakery to the standard specified by the Lodge’s Sous chef. Within the kitchen there will be dishwashing facilities for glassware, crockery and cutlery there is also a requirement for a small walk-in chiller. The kitchen area is currently under development and layouts and diagrams will be available shortly as will the kitchen equipment list and budgets. The Hunter’s lodge kitchen will be a simple but functional design incorporating the highest hygiene standards in all areas, due to the distance to the Main kitchen some storage space will be required both dry stores and refrigerated.   This kitchen will also function as a room service kitchen for the sixteen cottage rooms; this will greatly improve the speed and quality of the food being served to our guests in this part of the Resort.  In the future when our garden is flourishing we will use all our own produce to supply or menus.

The Bar and Beverage Service

The bar located on the left of the entrance door on the ground floor is primarily going to be used as a holding space. Guests who are awaiting other diners in their party will be able to wait in the bar as with all the space within the Hunter’s lodge it is compact. One of the biggest functions our Hostess will have to perform is one of coordinator with both guests and staff using the narrow stairs to access upper floors. The bar will be staffed at all times with a trained barman, who will be responsible for service to the guest in the bar as well as preparing drinks for table service. It is our intention to feature fine wines at The Hunters Lodge fine wine does not mean expensive wine we plan to have a wine list of 50 to 60 labels which will feature wine from the four corners of the world, we will ensure that we offer a great range of price points for our wine selection, value for money is the key to good wine sales. Down the road when we are known for fine food we will introduce a wine waiter whose job it is to meet with our guests and pair their food choices with wine which greatly increases the diner’s experience.

Reservations and Vehicle Parking

The Hunters lodge will request reservations, which at the early stages will be channeled through the Room service order taker. As we become busier the Hunters Lodge will take its own reservations. Initially we shall open for Dinner and as our business builds we review opening for lunch.   The location of the Hunter’s Lodge makes it ideal to approach from the gate number 4(TBC) there is ample parking for up to ten vehicles.