The High Point Our Pinnacle

Revisitation Of Salamanca

1994-2002

Salamanca Teahouse Photo Gallery

This is my fourth restaurant I have managed and cooked in and this is also the second last link to my final eating outlet that I am involved . For the next few weeks I shall leisurely park here at this trading station and concentrate more on the Salamanca Place restaurant before moving onto my last destination since more materials have been collated. Hopefully I can get a grip of myself and make some sense out of my attempt in cataloging the sequence to my Teahouse history.You will keep your fingers crossed for all things to fall into place for me soon  won't you....Do Read On and Cheers!.

Some Media Publicity For Teahouse At 6 Victoria

Rebirth Of Dom's Teahouse 1992-1993

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his is a  supplementary article providing additional information to a previous article so featured   here under the title Renovation & Refurbishment (Part Two).  The renovation taking place at 6 Victoria Street  is  without a doubt a complete overhaul. I feel I need to reinvigorate myself of having to throw myself onto a new challenge.Wiring, wall plastering, floor covering heat ducting brand new engine room cool room etc. Mind boggling come to think of it. Indeed a mammoth task if restaurants wants to have a complete turn over of a new lease of life.  But exciting times are ahead of me and I always convince myself that one should get oneself constantly involved in life at all  times  so I must treat it that way .I just simply cannot stay rusty by  being too complacent about things .Already my business had reached a plateau after more than a ten year run in South Hobart. Liverpool Street Cafe is considered too small. It has a restrictive sitting capacity and lacks available car parking space. So I decided I need to remain resilience and stay abreast of  the competitive spirit in a rather saturated eatery market of Hobart during the 90's by giving this new found place a complete  face uplift. .It was really a stroke of a luck that I pick up this old solid building for sale because firstly is it did rarely ever exist nowadays  right in the very heart of the city  and secondly is that it gave me a real opportunity to put my dreams to test and ultimately to renew myself with my patrons and the public .

Renovation and Refurbishment (Second Part)

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enovations can be costly. It depends on what you really want. I remember when we’re doing the spray paint on the roof of a double storey Spice shop at 42 Newdegate Street we have to hire a cherry harvester mounted on a truck that works on hydraulics in order to reach to the rooftop. Old concrete buildings generally have higher roofs than the newly built The painter forgot to cover all the nearby cars parked in the area and I had to dash around on his behalf covering each of the vehicle with all his industrial protective cloth including that of my old bed sheets as the wind started to change its course. I assume that he must have his insurance cover. That was the whole purpose of not taking any work related risks myself but hiving off jobs like this to the professionals who were certified and licensed for the it though they may well be the small businessmen like myself.

Testing Linkage

Renovation and Refurbishment (First Part)

Small business renovation or refurbishment is without a doubt a burden to a proprietor because it is not something you can do without and it represents an additional outlay on top of your purchase of a building or a business you are taking over. Yet it is very necessary because it is very much like a statement that you want to make and you want your own mark on it which clearly indicates that it is you not the previous owner and that there is a complete change of management or ownership of your new business  .It is also an appropriate opportunity for you to introduce a brand name that you would like to stamp on so that it is clearly  identifiable to the public what you  and your service have to offer..There is no escape that any new small business has to deal with the bureaucracy of the day. When it comes to  renovations that require structural changes you will need a permit and obviously an approval, which undoubtedly attract  more fees. Refurbishment is not as complex and most of the time be carried out internally though you may still need prior approval from your landlord. But refurbishment can also be costly depending on your budget target..

In Praise Of My Loyal Patrons

In Praise Of My Loyal Patrons

 I am completely overwhelmed and overtaken by the swell and stream of well-wishers and  messages that is still trickling through. Below here is another one which I just received in my post and of course I would like to share this again with you and the public because I sincerely believe that without your loyal and concrete support in the community I would not be what I am today. Special thanks to  Chris & Rosemary  merry Curry club, Geoffry’s, Lynn & Jock, Muirs & Pennecott’family,  the Godfreys, the staffs working at Mercury News Daily both past and present and  et al all the others. . Whilst gloating over a good situation like this I have never for a moment forgotten at the back of my mind that it always take two to tango.

You as loyal patrons are regarded as an important and an intrinsic part of my social life in the world of small business because you are also a key to the actual survival of my economic existence. Where small business relationships are so personal your involvement and your personal relationship becomes a vital reciprocity without which Dom’s Teahouse wok-a-bout’’or wok-a-thon’’ would had long time run out of steam and the business spelt its demise in no time. You do all the advertising for me to just about anybody and there is nothing more effective in the form of advertising than the actual good words you put in. By spreading good words to your friends and your neighbours about my eating outlet you are not only helping me to build up a whole crop of new and loyal followers and in doing so you also in the event helped me shape successfully the distinctive type of dishes and service that is unique and different from the conventional norm. You’ve done what all the media and advertisers couldn’t do. So with greatest respect to   all my loyal supporters that had closely identified with me from South Hobart down to the South in Blackman's Bay may I today just as I poignantly started off on  my retirement days  salute you for your support your contributions and importantly your dedication.. You have my greatest respect and admiration both as a human being and  a customer.  I personally like to publicly thank you both for that , Jeff and Kay.

People Personality Power and Politics (1)

In the dawn of my next decade of restaurant activity it  had just occurred to  me that the year 1991 saw the entourage of Robin Trevor Gray’s team the leader of the state Liberal Party coming in for dinner at Liverpool street in the  city one night . You might think why on earth would such a person of stature like the premier of state of Tasmania be seen patronising a dumpy little place like the Liverpool Teahouse café. Well to some extent I can understand that’s pretty normal because as politicians they usually do especially before an election or after they retire or lost their jobs. And came he did with a bodyguard or two standing outside. This time he did plenty have time to taste my food. Mind you though the world is a wonderful place. He was a senior lecturer in the  Agriculture department at the same time as I studied Economics and Politics at Monash.That was well before he went into topsy-turvy world of politics and I thereon into the extra mile for an incessant wok wandering march over the next two decade...

Come to think of my recall the early 80’s at South Hobart's Teahouse had quite a few visitations of interests with social personalities ranging from the English Cricket team to the famous left-winger campaigner Victorian Dr Jim Cairn. For Jimmy it was a sort of return social visit. In order to do him some justice here I think I shall do an exclusive on him and his family when I come around. Only that way I can  relate to you properly  of my experience during my stay at his home in Hawthorn Victoria. The comedian Billy Connolly and his comedian team from United Kingdom did turn up as well  since they were billeted close by down at the local Sandy Bay Wrest Point Casino. Then of course there was this tall elegant looking dark lady from US who was a blue jazz singer whom I unfortunately forgotten her name after so many years. They were all international Artists performing around venues and Casinos round the world. But when it comes to private moments outside their stage Performance they rather prefer something that is not  the mainstream somewhere of a  place that is quaint and exotic , and some thing that has to be completely different from their normal routinal limelight. 

The Teahouse at Salamanca Place was in fact originally called The Office prior to 1991 named by an owner who was then an active member of the Liberal Party. It is therefore without surprise that in the earlier part of the period when we took over the premises in the late 1994 we were frequented by most of the cabinet ministers of State Liberal party during lunchtime led by a gentlemanly mild mannered Raymond Groom whose family happens to live nearby in Battery Point vicinity. I think this is therefore due not only to the proximity of the restaurant location from the docklands and the waterfront but also from the State Parliament of Tasmania where all the politicians were working.  I began to know most of the elderly Liberal Cabinet members. I Knew the Hodgeman family and Eric Abetz –a Federal senator well.. not just at Salamanca Place but also later on down South in Blackman’s Bay and Kingborough area

 However, Abetz has been a long time acquaintance during my university years at the Student Representative Council much more than the Honourable Hong Lim who is now an active Labour member for Clayton in Victoria. Anthony Rundle who later took on the job of Premier was indeed my personal fan followed by Rene Hidding. I think a lot of people would have easily misunderstood what they stood for perhaps because they were in politics for if you know the pair well enough personally they were nothing like a typical politician. For one I regarded him more as a marvellous teacher and the other a prime example of an industrious Dutch migrant who had successfully made into the top public and social ladder. Whilst talking about the Kingborough area let me just deviate from the topic at this juncture. James Bleasale the ex-chairman of CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation) brought Dick Smith a rather renown philantropist of Sydney in one night for a meal down at Blackman’s Bay and they thoroughly enjoyed their stay so they said. .. The tycoon Dick Smith obviously as you know is an  environmentalist and apart from other things is deeply committed to the preservation of Antartica continent down further south.. 

 Salamanca Teahouse also attract other relatively well-known VIPs for instance the Federal Minister of Communications from Malaysia Affendi Norwawi . He was on his way to receive his honorary PHD Doctorate Degree from University of Tasmania. He brought with him some dark glasses bodyguards too but more in numbers than Gray because perhaps labour is cheaper over at yonder and thus but also not to forget along came his young charming second wife as well for a rather long sumptous banquet . There was then the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race event, which also brought Lachlan Murdoch the son of Rupert Murdoch and their entourage from the vessel Sayonara to our premises in 2001. It was a rather nice looking blonde lady confidante  that came preceding the party and concluded a deal with me  a day or two prior to their arrival. I am sure she was from Sydney too and not a Hobartian .

 We were so close to the docks that inevitably we were sharing some of the arrivals from the annual events The event that is suppose to be the highlights of all summer events in Hobart. It is all glitter and glitz for the next few summer weeks down at Salamanca what with all the sideshows, galleries, live performance and the Taste Festival showcasing local food and wine to coincide with the arrival of the first Yacht from the Great Southern Sydney Hobart Race.  If you are a Hobartian yourself you will probably know what I am carrying on about.