Saldechin Adelaide - a blend of tea room, part shop, café, bar and restaurant:Keith visits this new establishment in the Adelaide City region of South Australia
Twenty-one King William Street is a classic Adelaide heritage building. Built as an institutional banking chamber it now has an oriental ambience - you could be in Hong Kong or Shanghai in the 1930s.
Welcome to Saldechin - the latest addition to Adelaide's groovy food and drink scene. Part tea room, part shop, café, bar and restaurant - Saldechin is a delightful blend… the sort of classy establishment you find in the likes of Hong Kong, Paris, London and New York - and now Adelaide.
It's all very relaxed - yum cha, gourmet breakfasts, snacks and dinner - or simply relax in a leather-clad corner for a cuppa and a quiet chat. It's the brainchild of Raul Barreto - a former New Yorker who now calls Adelaide home.
Raul Barreto: "Saldechin is really a celebration of Chinese culture and part of what we do is we bring in art, objects. Everything here is brought from the (Chinese) mainland itself - we source it directly from there so there are no middlemen. I am a very big fan of Chinese culture."
And what a place to show it all off? The beautiful Art Deco building went up in 1936 as the state headquarters of the AMP Society. Twelve solid storeys of subtle coloured marble and stone - all reflecting the 'quiet dignity' the directors of the conservative financial institution of the day ordered. Subsequent incarnations as the Commercial Bank of Australia and Wespac were followed by years of neglect until now.
Saldechin are also purveyors of their own brand of tea - all sourced from China. Fancy a cup of Rose and Jasmine? How about Lychee tea? Their aim is to get the tea from plant to pot within a year so they can guarantee the quality.
Raul Barreto: "Chinese tea comes in five different colours - white, green, yellow, red and black which is really the amount of fermentation in the tea…"
Saldechin's tea experience includes the stunning artisan tea - a hand-rolled tea ball inside a cocoon of jasmine. Like all good things in life - tea shouldn't be rushed. This is all about patience - quite soothing too - quietly watch the tea ball gently unravel - releasing the dried marigold flower within.
The combined flavors of the jasmine and marigold are brilliantly subtle and Raul reckons the longer you let it steep the better it tastes. Then there's the food - lunch is particularly popular.
Raul Barreto: "The business community uses us a fair bit during the day - we have no televisions in here, all the furniture is wood and leather which absorbs sound which gives you a fair degree of privacy and at the same time get to absorb the ambience and enjoy the company you're with."
Come evenings, the martini bar cranks up - shaken of course, not stirred. How about James Bond martini? Or a Manhattan, a Dragon Well or a Shanghai Rose which are martinis made with tea.
Raul Barreto: "The tea room is not only about tea, it's food, it's drink, it's ambience, it's the people your with and that's what we're trying to capture."
Outside is the King Williams Street scramble of the busses, the trams, and the madding crowd. Inside Saldechin, the salon de Chinoiserie - your oriental oasis.
You'll find it at 21 King William Street in the city. It's open seven days a week and for dinner five nights. There's a private function room available on the mezzanine level too.
Saldechin Adelaide
21 King William St, Adelaide
Ph. 8410 0466Published 15th February 2009
