They started meeting at the Cosmopolitan Club in Takapuna until a new chef was employed.
"He said: 'I'm not getting up in the morning to cook tripe' so we went to the Ngataringa Navy sports ground at Devonport, instead."
The group is now based at the Birkenhead RSA and meets on the last Thursday of every month. There are 185 members aged between 30 and 90 and at least 100 of them meet every month.
It costs $15 to join, $15.50 for a meal and $18.50 for guests. Nowadays, those who don't fancy tripe can eat an alternative meal.
A happy hour kicks off the evening, with dinner served at 7.15pm, and bread-and-butter pudding for dessert.
Ron, a car consultant, explains how the offal is presented in smorgasbord style in different ways - tripe in curry, tripe in sweet and sour sauce, tripe Italian style with tomatoes and tripe cooked with onions.
"It's like calamari," he says. "If you chopped it up, cooked it and deep-fried it, you wouldn't know the difference."
The meat usually comes from the belly of a cow, but sometimes the belly of a goat.
"There's 1000 different ways to cook it. I like it with onions, white sauce and parsley. It tastes beautiful. It's an ideal filler."
Chef Geoff Zuydendorp buys cows' stomachs bleached or unwashed. The bleached version is soaked in a hydrogen peroxide solution and is whitish - clean, tidy and ready to cook. Unwashed or green tripe has more flavour but still includes the contents of the animal's stomach and must be trimmed, washed and rinsed as many as seven times.
"It's an acquired taste. There are those who really like it and those who won't go near it. Lots of guys like it and their wives won't cook it, hence there's a club," says Robin.
Those who enjoy the monthly meal tend to be older, because it's what they were exposed to when they were growing up during hard economic times. There were many hardcore female fans when we visited. "For many, it was the only meat they could afford."
Members meet for a midwinter Christmas party, Halloween and outings to horse races. They also have regular committee meetings at which important issues, like who's going to be Santa, Mrs Claus and the elf, are discussed.
Robin says the club is devoid of politics and religion and is a good place to meet a partner.
He has little time for people who criticise tripe, saying they don't know what they're talking about.
"I ask them, do you drink milk? Because that comes from the stomach of a cow, too."
And his club members are getting a bargain anyway - some of Auckland's most upmarket restaurants charge up to $30 for an entree of tripe.
HOW TO COOK TRIPE
Traditionally, Kiwi cooks prepare tripe ina white sauce. Here's how:
Cut the tripe into 2cm pieces and an onion into eight wedges.
Place the tripe and onion in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Stir in salt, cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, or until the tripe is tender. Drain, keeping a cup of liquid and discarding the onion.
Meanwhile, finely chop another onion. Melt 40g butter in a medium saucepan until hot and bubbling. Add the onion and cook until soft. Add two tablespoons of flour and stir for one minute. Remove from the heat and add 1 cups milk and the cup of cooking liquid in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly to avoid the sauce becoming lumpy.
Return the saucepan to the heat and cook, stirring constantly, on medium-high heat until the sauce comes to the boil and thickens.
Add the tripe, reduce the heat to low, cover the saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until the tripe is heated through.
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