Oak & Smoke Brings New Flavors and Experiences to Salcedo | Flavor Profiles | Spot.ph - video Dailymotion

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We released our list of the 50 Great Restaurants of 2024 and on that list is an Asian-American smokehouse that brings new flavors and a personal touch to their dishes. Mixing new, asian inspired dishes like Prawn Toast, and Uni Pasta with classic favorites like Ribeye and Pork Chop, Oak & Smoke earns their place for being one of the masters of the grill.  #StudioSpotPh #SpotphAwards

Transcript

00:00Oaken Smoke actually started with the idea of some of the partners to become like an

00:23American smokehouse, since one of the other chefs is from America, from Georgia, and he

00:29had a lot of like smoking background.

00:32But then when we saw the space, we had to pivot because it was too beautiful of a space

00:35to just become like an American barbecue joint.

00:39From there, we kind of like brainstormed to see what would really fit the space and what

00:43was kind of like missing within the Salcedo area.

00:47The partners only had one request, which was they wanted steaks on the menu.

00:52So from there, we kind of like, you know, pulled all the ideas, and since a lot of our

00:55background comes from Shanghai, Sean living there for 20 years, and I was there for the

01:00last 11 years.

01:01So it was kind of easy for us to kind of mix the Asian influences together with the steakhouse.

01:07So hence, Oaken Smoke then became a Asian grill or Asian bistro slash grill.

01:17Oaken Smoke, since it was supposedly a barbecue joint, so it was using oak wood, everything

01:23with, you know, like firewood and live fire cooking, and then obviously the smoke, having

01:29smoked meats or cooking stuff from the grill, so smoke.

01:33They fell in love with the name.

01:34We wanted to change it, but then it kind of like stuck with the partner, so we were just

01:38like, okay, let's just go with Oaken Smoke.

01:42There's a lot of like Asian, specifically Chinese influences in the dishes.

01:46We use a lot of ingredients like, you know, doubanjiang or Sichuan peppercorn, just oyster

01:53sauce, things like that.

01:54So it's kind of like a unique take on, you know, melding or using the word fusion, but

02:02it's more of like a Chinese fusion with Western technique is what Oaken Smoke is.

02:08In terms of the favorites, we have the prawn toast, the pork chop, the things from the

02:14binchotan.

02:15So we have two kinds of grills.

02:17So we have the regular grill, which uses charcoal and some palo wood.

02:21And then we have a smaller grill, which uses the binchotan or the Japanese charcoal.

02:28So off the binchotan, we have like the sticks, like the skewers.

02:31So those have become really popular because on the menu, there's a specific section just

02:35for that.

02:36The binchotan charcoal produces a different kind of fire.

02:40It kind of heats and cooks meats differently.

02:42So we're kind of want to highlight that one as well.

02:48Sean is also like my life partner.

02:49So we complement each other in the sense that, you know, he's really the guy behind like

02:54the fire cooking.

02:55I'm more of kind of like really how do we kind of like add more flavor to things or

03:02kind of like composing the dishes or, you know, making things make sense.

03:06But in terms of, you know, the hard work or the actual labor of the cooking process

03:11on the grill or the binchotan, he's the one in charge for that.

03:15So it's kind of like fusing his technique with kind of my flavors is how it works for

03:20both of us.

03:22In the future, in terms of expansion, hopefully there is one, maybe 2026.

03:30But for now, we really kind of want to focus on this.

03:33We're kind of, I think our backgrounds, because we're always in the kitchen.

03:37Those are kind of like the restaurants that we've worked with, whether it was in China

03:42or in the U.S., like we were always in the kitchen.

03:44So we're having a hard time trying to see ourselves like how do we do multiple concepts

03:48with splitting ourselves in those venues because we're so invested into being there and having

03:54the guests kind of really see that we're around or they can like talk to us and we can touch

03:58the tables and have a little bit more of an intimate relationship with our customers.

04:03So expanding is a challenge and yet something that we're looking forward to maybe in 2026.

04:11Please come join us here at Oak & Smoke.

04:14We'd love to see everybody, old customers and new customers alike.

04:18We hope that we will be able to like, you know, please you and kind of surprise you

04:25with what we have here, fusing a lot of our Asian background with, you know, our steakhouse concept.

04:31And yeah, we have a lot of stuff planned in the future.

04:34A new menu is coming up, so we look forward to seeing you.

Oak & Smoke Brings New Flavors and Experiences to Salcedo | Flavor Profiles | Spot.ph

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