A dark dining room with candles on oak tables, a chef at an open hearth of burning oak on the right and smoke drifting through a shaft of light from a high window
Ash & Oak, Steakhouse
Rated 4.8 out of 5 from 312 reviews
Oak-fired steaks in the old maltings, Kettlewick
Walk-ins welcome at the barThe Old Maltings, Wharf Lane, Kettlewick
How a steak gets to you
Four things, done slowly
No marinades, no gas, no shortcuts. Scroll and watch a sirloin go from the ageing room to your plate.
Aged 35 days
Whole sirloins hang on the bone in our own ageing room, against a wall of salt, until the flavour is deep and nutty.
Salt, nothing else
Cut to order, two fingers thick, and seasoned with coarse sea salt an hour before it meets the fire.
Oak at 400 °C
Over embers of split oak, turned once a minute for the crust: a quarter turn for the crosshatch, then the other side.
Rested 8 minutes
Off the fire at 49 °C, it climbs to 54 °C as it rests, so the juices stay in the steak and not on the board.
From the hearth
The ones people come back for
Four dishes that have been on the menu since the first night. The rest changes with the season and the farm.
Ash & Oak in numbers
- in the ageing room
- 35days
- at the heart of the embers
- 400°C
- from the farm to the kitchen
- 9miles
- and a bar for walk-ins
- 64covers
Private dining
A long table by the wine wall
The Malt Room seats fourteen round one oak table, with its own door, its own playlist and a set menu cooked on the same fire. Birthdays, leaving dos, the board meeting that should have been a dinner.
- Seats
- Up to 14
- Set menus
- From £65 a head
- Whole venue
- Up to 80 standing
From the kitchen
Notes from the fire
Inside the ageing room
What 35 days against a wall of salt does to a sirloin, and why a fifth of it never reaches the plate.
Why we cook on oak
Four tonnes a month, split by hand and seasoned for two years. What the wood does that gas can't.
Members only
The chef's rub, and how to cook a steak at home
The pepper rub on our short rib, and Mara's method for a thick steak on a barbecue or in a pan. For members.
Fire nights, first
Once a month: the next whole-beast dinner, wine nights with the growers, and the new cuts as they come out of the ageing room. You hear before the tables go.
Find us
In the old maltings, by the wharf
- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday to Thursday
- 5 pm to 10.30 pm
- Friday and Saturday
- 12 pm to 3 pm, 5 pm to 11 pm
- Sunday
- 12 pm to 8 pm
Ash & Oak
Ash & Oak The Old Maltings, Wharf Lane KettlewickTwo minutes from the station, five from the market square. Follow the smoke.
Get directions
The fire's lit at five
Book online in a minute, or call and we'll find you a table. Walk-ins are welcome at the bar, where the whole menu is served.