Spit Shack owner Krešo Spelic. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
Spit Shack … where have you been all my life?
When you walk in and see the menu, you start planning when you can return to try more dishes. Yet once you have tasted the lunch you ordered, it becomes your favourite, and you must have it every time you return.
My nephew has sung Spit Shack’s praises for years, so I have finally made time to visit. As I step into the restaurant, blinking hard until my eyes adjust from the midday brightness, the depth and size of Spit Shack is a surprise. The story of the Spelic family unfolds across the walls of the restaurant in photo collages, paintings, and hand-carved wooden casks, charting their history here in Australia, beginning with owner Krešo Spelic’s father’s first landing in Australia in 1956. It is worthwhile having a look as you wait for your lunch.
Spit-roasted pork, gravy, crackling, and the spiced comfort of apple sauce all in an impossibly long bun. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
“We started Spit Shack about 10 years ago on the side of the road in the middle of a paddock outside Braidwood,” Krešo says.
“People thought we were crazy, but we knew it would work because it’s based on ‘mum and dad’ restaurants in Croatia where you are travelling through villages, and you see the family-owned restaurants just on the side of the road.
“People had been talking about doing this for 40 years, but no one ever did it. We thought, ‘Let’s just give it a go’, and we became an overnight sensation!
“Spit Shack’s specialty is the spit-roasted meat that is cooked between four and six hours. The moisture in our pork and lamb is incredible.”
We take Krešo’s advice on what to order for our lunch, opting for a pork roll, a pulled pork bun, a Shack Stack, and the traditional ćevapčići (pronounced: chevup chee chee).
The pork roll, Spit Shack’s bestselling dish, stuffs spit-roasted pork, gravy, crackling, and the spiced comfort of apple sauce into an impossibly long bun. You can just imagine how well all those flavours go together!
The pulled pork bun is out of this world: tender pulled pork, secret recipe slaw and smokey BBQ sauce filling a brioche bun. It looks simple, but the flavours are divine.
We love the texture of the restaurant’s famous 7 mm French fries in the Shack Stack. The silky strands of pulled pork taste entirely different when paired with the delicately acerbic Ajvar, the pepper and eggplant relish and the accompanying garlic aioli.
The pulled pork bun. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
I like the fine slicing of the cabbage in the coleslaw and its crispness on the palate.
The ćevapčići comes out served in a Lepinja bun with a side of fries, fresh red onion and Ajvar. This dish is flawless. I am interested in creating my own sausages someday, and these are just on another level. The flavour packed into these Croatian delights is a three-day process and a 300-year-old recipe that includes 13 secret spices. The chef marinates and grills the Lepinja bread bun in the traditional way, leaving it soft yet sturdy and pliable.
You can purchase Spit Shack ćevapčići to cook in your own kitchen across 30 IGAs, delicatessens, Friendly Grocers and Supabarns in Canberra.
There are three Spit Shack locations: Pialligo, Mitchell, and a permanent food truck at Weston Creek. But that’s not all! Spit Shack can come to you!
Spit Shack in Pialligo. Photo: Supplied.
“We do a lot of mobile events,” Krešo says.
“Every Canberra Raiders home game, every Brumbies home game, every single event at GIO Stadium and Manuka Oval. Last year we even did Formula 1 in Melbourne, Bathurst 1000, the United Tennis Cup at Sydney Olympic Park and the Pink Concert.”
Shit Shack’s interior is very pleasing to the eyes. Photo: Kazuri Photography
Spit Shack is open seven days a week at Mitchell from 8 am to 3 pm Monday to Thursday and until 8 pm on Friday and Saturday, and from 11 am to 3 pm on Sundays. The Piallago location is open 7 days from 10 am to 3 pm. Weston Creek is open Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 2:30 pm, and from 5 pm to 7:30 pm, Thursday to Saturday.
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