Royal Hotel Mandurama

After an arduous 4 minute trek up the road from our previous stop in Lyndhurst, the Royal Tour rolled into the next stop along Light Beer Lane, the Royal Hotel Mandurama.

Little did we know that our third Royal on a random Sunday morning travelling up Light Beer Lane would turn out to be one of, if not THE, best Royal we’ve hit so far. And by the way, we will be doing a Top 10 Royal list starting from when we hit 25 Royals and updating regularly from there.

But anyway, back to the Royal Hotel Mandurama. First impressions as we walked up were that this was another of the Grand Old Royal’s. Very cool old school look with a wrap around second-floor verandah. Even as we approached, there was a hint of something a bit extra back behind the pub, obscured for the time being behind a corrugated metal fence.

The first thing you see when you walk in the front door is the welcoming, wood-ensconced front bar. It’s a welcoming cozy area that you could easily set up shop in for an afternoon. If that was all there was to the Royal Hotel Mandurama, it would have been a pretty good Royal.

But that is most definitely NOT all there is to the Royal Hotel Mandurama. After wandering through a few backrooms and the dining room, you emerge onto a gorgeous beer garden with tables amongst cascades or grapevines.

And if the front bar and beer garden were all that the Royal Hotel Mandurama had to offer, it would have been a VERY good Royal. But there was yet more on offer.

There was also what was easily the best live music set up of any Royal we’ve hit so far. There’s a full proper stage setup. And it’s flanked on one side by a pair of outdoor pool tables and on the other by an auxiliary bar (in case of emergencies). All of this is clad in a typically country wood-and-corrugated-metal motif. Then throw in a generous amount of open space in front of the stage to relax or let the kids run around.

And just cuz they could, they also threw in a gigantic teepee for a bit of extra ambiance. When we were visiting, the teepee housed carnival style games to raise money for the flood ravaged community of Eugowra. And to be fair to the other Royals on this leg of the tour, every single one of them also had donation jars and/or fundraisers for Eugowra. John’s attempts at the carnival games were less than successful. Except for the whole giving money to charity stand point. In terms of succeeding at the games themselves, he gave a fair bit of money to charity.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t give the kitchen a quick mention as well. The food (in particular the BBQ wings) looked smelled absolutely fantastic. I still don’t remember why we didn’t get any for ourselves. But for some reason we decided that awkwardly ogling other peoples plates, while talking about their food in what must have been, in hindsight, clearly audible commentary was the way to go.

There have been multiple times I’ve used the phrase “we could have easily stayed all day” or something to that effect in this blog. But never has it been so true as at the Royal Hotel Mandurama. Between the food, the live music, and the relaxed brilliant beer garden, we could have spent hours sinking schooners and listening to The Dougies churn out the country music hits. And I don’t even like country music.

All things considered, I think it’s reasonably safe to declare that Mandurama is probably the clubhouse leader for the coveted “Greatest Royal in Australia” award. And to pre-emptively answer your questions: yes, I did just now make up that award. And yes, following consultation, the name of the award will almost certainly be updated to something including a pun.

Royal Stats

• Town/Suburb: Mandurama, NSW
• Population: 355
• Date Visited: Sunday, November 27, 2022
• Visited By: Cory & John
• Beer Sponsorship on Sign: None
• Beer Consumed at Pub: Toohey’s New
• Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $6.80
• Unique Award: Best Royal Live Music Courtyard
• Tour Progress: 11.76% (16/136)