Mandai Smoke Co’s Royston Chan turned a weekend hobby into a home-based smoked-BBQ business
- Mandai Smoke Co owner Royston Chan discovered smoked meats during a visit to Australia and became fascinated by the science behind low-and-slow barbecue.
- He launched the home-based, delivery-only smokehouse known for its Texas-style smoked meats and family-style platters.
- Despite having a full-time day job, Royston spends his evenings and weekends refining recipes and smoking meats.
Most landed-home front yards are filled with potted plants and parked cars. But for Royston Chan, 33, it is filled with professional-grade smokers and slabs of meat slowly cooking through the night.
The founder of home-based barbecue brand Mandai Smoke Co, Royston spends his weekends smoking Texas-style meats from home, packing orders, and sending them across the island.
What began as a hobby has since grown into a delivery-only operation with a loyal following. Customers order everything from smoked beef short plate and pork belly to dino ribs, alongside housemade sides such as golden rice and ember corn.
For larger gatherings, the brand’s barbecue platters bring together a mix of its signature smoked meats, making it a popular choice for celebrations and communal feasts.
Discovering smoked meats
Royston’s journey into cooking started long before barbecue entered the picture.
“I was always hungry when I was 14, and learning to cook meant that I could eat as much as I wanted from the fridge,” he relates. “I found cooking very fun and got hooked on trying to make my food taste better.”
Those early culinary experiments — making dishes such as burgers and fried rice — were hardly memorable. “They were very bad dishes,” Royston recalls with a laugh.
Still, he kept cooking and learning as he grew older. He discovered the magic of smoked meats back in 2024, during a visit to Australia where his brother-in-law made them for the family.
“It was one of the best meats I’ve ever eaten,” he says. “I learnt the cooking technique from him and recreated it in Singapore.”
After returning home, videos of smoked meats began appearing repeatedly on his social media feeds as he started researching them more.
“The videos and pictures looked great, especially the meat slicing videos that showed the juices oozing out of the meat,” says Royston.
He adds that what captivated him wasn’t merely the visual appeal. “I find the concept of smoked meats pretty magical,” he says. “These are cuts of meat that are traditionally very dry, tough and inexpensive, but they become soft and juicy when exposed to low and slow fire.”
The steep learning curve
In 2025, Royston bought his first smoker. Having no culinary training, he relied on experimentation, countless videos, and trial and error.
“Luckily, the first few cooks of beef short plate turned out amazing and gave me confidence to start Mandai Smoke Co,” Royston says.
That confidence was quickly tested, with several subsequent batches turning out poorly. He began studying the science behind smoking, eventually realising that barbecue is a game of variables.
“When the meats are smoking for up to 12 hours, several factors become a lot more significant — relative humidity, ambient temperature, and surface moisture,” Royston explains. “They all contribute to the end result.”
He discovered that smaller cuts dried out too quickly, after shrinking during the cooking process. He also learnt that barbecue refuses to follow a fixed schedule. Some cooks would finish hours ahead of expectations; others would lag behind stubbornly.
Today, he finishes the smoking process earlier and places the meat in a hot hold. The hot hold is a kitchen appliance designed to safely maintain pre-cooked foods above the bacterial danger zone — typically 60°C — until served. This allows collagen and fats to continue rendering, while eliminating the stress of racing against delivery deadlines.
Starting Mandai Smoke Co
The idea for Mandai Smoke Co emerged while Royston was between jobs and serving army reservist duties.
“I had plenty of free time and decided to start a weekend passion project smoking meats, hoping people would be interested in trying them,” says Royston.
His partner, who prefers to remain anonymous, agreed to come on board and support him. They created a website to facilitate orders, and officially started the business last September.
Deciding on the menu involved some careful thought. “We realised we needed to have cuts that are very juicy and would not dry out during deliveries,” explains Royston.
They initially started the business with brisket on the menu, but would receive customer feedback that the meat dried out before they even started eating.
To solve the problem, Royston shifted towards more marbled cuts that retained moisture better during transport. The result is a menu anchored by smoked beef short plate, smoked dino ribs, smoked pork belly, and smoked pulled pork — cuts that remain succulent even after travelling across Singapore.
While orders initially were from friends and early supporters, the breakthrough came when complete strangers started placing orders, which saw the brand take off.
Soon, the operation became a family affair. Royston’s father helps fold boxes and make supermarket runs. His mother assists with preparation and packing. Along with his partner who assists in operations, they form the support system that keeps the weekend business running smoothly.
The food
The star of the lineup is the smoked boneless beef short plate (from S$70 for 500g).
Thanks to its higher fat content, the cut remains juicy and rich, delivering a luxurious mouthfeel with every bite. Compared to leaner barbecue cuts, the marbling gives it a fuller flavour and helps it withstand delivery exceptionally well.
The smoked dino ribs (S$80 for 600g to 800g) offer a different experience. It is beefier in flavour, with fat that renders more aggressively during the smoking process, resulting in a deeply savoury profile. We also especially enjoyed the amber seasoned salt that was served on the side. Made in-house, the salt added an extra kick and flavour to the ribs.
The smoked pork belly (from S$45 for 500g) caters to diners who appreciate richness. Each slab contains varying layers of fat and meat, creating alternating bites that are indulgent yet balanced.
Meanwhile, the smoked pulled pork (from S$45 for 500g) showcases the transformative power of low-and-slow cooking, emerging tender and flavour-packed after hours in the smoker. Tender and savoury, it is finished with their tasty in-house BBQ sauce.
Another well-executed item was the smoked pork rillette (S$18 per 150g). Featuring low-and-smoked pork, it is shredded tender and makes for a rich, rustic spread over your favourite bread.
Royston notes that Mandai Smoke Co’s meats typically yield about 50% of their original weight after smoking, which is why he often advises first-time customers not to over-order.
“You are eating a lot more meat than what you are seeing, and will get full very fast,” he warns.
Among the sides, the Wicked slaw (from S$6) stands out as an Asian-inspired take on traditional coleslaw.
“As smoked meats are really flavourful, we wanted sides that were slightly more tangy, so it would be a refreshing bite to accompany the flavour of the meats,” says Royston.
The slaw serves exactly that purpose, cutting through the richness of the barbecue while refreshing the palate.
The golden rice (S$9), a turmeric-based rice dish, was our favourite side dish. It was rich, fragrant, and pairs perfectly with any of the smoked meats.
We were also a fan of both the rustic mashed potatoes (from S$9) and the ember corn (from S$7). The mashed potato was seasoned with garlic, and we found it to be creamy and tasty. The corn was another satisfying side, light and crunchy with just the right amount of butter.
For larger groups, Mandai Smoke Co’s platters are designed for communal feasting.
The Hunter’s platter (S$128), which serves four to six people, combines smoked boneless beef short plate (500g) and smoked pork belly (500g), accompanied by sides such as Wicked slaw and golden rice.
Those feeding a bigger crowd can opt for the Chieftain’s platter (S$185), a six-to-eight-person spread that showcases a wider selection of the smokehouse’s signatures, including smoked beef, pork belly, and pulled pork.
Life inside a weekend smokehouse
Royston tells us that a typical barbecue day begins the night before. Beef and pork have separate rubs that they prepare in advance.
They then season the meats for a few hours before throwing them into the smoker to cook slowly and render. Depending on external factors, a piece of meat is smoked anywhere between 10 to 15 hours for beef, and slightly shorter for pork.
The smoked meats are put into the hot hold once it’s done, and sliced when it’s time for delivery.
By 7am on Saturdays, Royston’s partner and family are preparing sides. By mid-morning, orders are packed and dispatched. Lunch deliveries are usually completed by around 11am, followed by a brief break before preparations begin again for dinner service.
And that’s just the weekends.
Royston still works a full-time job in tech sales. “I usually end my day job around 7pm, and start working on my food business from 8pm until 1am to 2am every day on the weekdays,” he says.
Those late-night hours are spent refining recipes, building systems, improving the website, and planning for the future.
Future plans
Like many successful home-based operators, Royston has considered taking the next step, such as a physical restaurant. At present, his business takes in orders only on Saturdays and Sundays.
“Based on my gut feeling, this is a very tough concept to commercialise,” he muses. “Rental for a physical space, manpower to smoke meats for more than 12 hours, increasing raw ingredient cost, huge space needed for smoking the meats — it’s a very difficult concept to scale.”
He remains grateful for Singapore’s home-based business scheme, which allows him to pursue his passion without the financial burden of commercial rent.
Yet there is one aspiration he cannot quite let go of. “A part of me dreams of getting a Michelin Bib Gourmand,” he admits. “I always tell my partner it’s my biggest dream, although we are nowhere close to that without a dine-in space.”
While an award has to wait for now, Royston is grateful for what Mandai Smoke Co has become.
“Mandai Smoke Co started as a passion project, to simply share my love of creating good food for others,” he says. “ I’m happy to share my passion for smoked meats made in my own home.”
For more ideas on what to eat, read about Great Nanyang’s new after-dark concept and new bites and sips to check out this month!
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Rebecca Wong is an experienced freelance writer whose work has been featured in The Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia, to name a few. She gravitates towards topics like food, travel and human interest stories, and cannot resist a hearty plate of chicken rice or freshly kneaded pizza.
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