If you could bottle the delicious aroma of Texas-style barbecue in the same way as entrepreneurs sold bottled Australian air to the Chinese, you’d be a millionaire.
Daithi Spalding is a lucky man - as the owner of Slap and Pickle on Shields St, he literally inhales the flavour from Tuesday to Saturday as his customised Texan barbecue smokes a mouth-watering range of meats ready for the evening trade.
“My dear friend Mitchell, who sadly passed this year, was the first to show me how to smoke meat the Texan way, low and slow using charcoal for fuel, and cherry, pecan and Post oak timber for smoking. The Post oak is imported from Texas,” Daithi says.
“I still learn something new every day, and I cherish our American visitors, listening out for a Texan accent so I can tap their knowledge.
“We had a big guy from Texas stop in for a meal a while back. He told me over a beer that he could tell exactly what I was doing with the meat just by eating it. He wasn’t a professional cook, but he explained ‘that’s just what we do’,” says Daithi.
Born in Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland, Daithi grew up in his parent’s bed-and-breakfast, where his dad tended his poultry and grew veggies for the table, while his stepmother looked after the housekeeping.
“I left school at 14 or 15, travelling around Europe working here and there. I’ve learnt a lot of things and worked with some really great people.”
Daithi’s partner Chloe works with him in the business.
“Chloe originally came to work for me as a nanny to my daughter, whose mother sadly passed at a very young age here in Cairns,” he says. “Now Chloe is my partner in life, and we have a young son. These days she works out front, and I have to say she’s one of the best front of house staff I’ve ever known.
“No, I’m not biassed, we’re a good team,” Daithi says. “During Covid, things were really tough, but when mandates and bans on alcohol service caused a downturn in our business, we closed for a while to reassess and we’ve come back stronger than ever.”
Daithi has been there, done that. He’s one of those ‘whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ guys who would give anything a go, and in fact has.
“When I came to Australia as a backpacker, I worked at The European in Melbourne. I made the call, and that was me on a roll. But the weather was like home. So I headed north and took a job as chef with the Townsville Brewing Company, which owned several venues and a catering section. True to their word, after three and a half years, they nominated me for permanent residency.
“I used to come to Cairns every now and then as there was a bit of a party atmosphere, and after several years as a company man, I craved R&R,” Daithi says. “So I worked briefly in a casual role at Ochre then The Water Bar and Grill for just under a year. I leased a kitchen at the Grand Hotel, a proper locals’ spot, where I made a lot of inroads and forged enduring friendships and contacts. During this period I worked for Sodexho at Nhulunbuy and later in the Bowen Basin.
“I worked at the airport, too, cooking airline food in bulk for the major airlines and some charters. I learned a great deal there. After that, I leased kitchens – a coffee shop in a retirement home, and at a football club at Holloways Beach and at the Raintrees Tavern, where I successfully converted the kitchen into a bakery.
Slap and Pickle’s venue at 62 Shields St was a blues bar before Daithi took it on.
“It was empty for eighteen months or so. I was walking past one day and there was a little shoe box propped up against the window with a number for enquiries. So I called and the owners were pretty happy with my concept, selling upmarket sandwiches – Reuben sandwiches, Cuban sandwiches, triple-decker club sandwiches with fried chicken and so on. But I underestimated the competition in the city centre for breakfast and lunch, and I underestimated the willingness of people to walk further than a few steps from their office to buy food.
“Those were tough times,” Daithi reflects. “I had lots of good people lend me their expertise, kindness I can never repay. I got a liquor licence, tried to do the night-time thing, but my daughter’s mum had passed away when she was just starting school, and it was a struggle to care for her and survive physically and financially.
“Covid gave Chloe and I a chance to rethink, take stock of everything and press the restart button. That is when Slap and Pickle was born. Now we focus on what we do well: our inhouse stuff; catering within practical reach; and our Sunday roast every month,” Daithi says. “Our customers are happy. That’s why we’re here.”
Slap and Pickle opens five nights, Tuesday to Saturday.
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