Nigel Ng gives us a choice before we sit down to interview him at his newly opened Chinatown restaurant. “I can do this as Nigel or Uncle Roger,” he says. “But the way I see it is, it’s like Sacha Baron Cohen versus Borat. Uncle Roger will be funnier, but the answers will be less nuanced.”
We’re pleased we went for the former option. As you’d expect from a world-famous comic, he’s funny - firing off quips about Wagamama, food allergies and rival Chinatown restaurants - but he’s also happy to talk seriously about kitchen operations, menu engineering and wok burners.
Kawan by Uncle Roger, which has just opened on Macclesfield Street, marks the comedian’s first UK restaurant project and the latest extension of a media and food empire built off a viral egg fried rice reaction video. The restaurant is a collaboration with restaurateur Keng Yew and chef Daren Liew, who are behind a number of top Chinese restaurants in the capital including YiQi, SanHao, Dozo and The Eight.
Despite Ng being originally from Malaysia, Kawan by Uncle Roger is not a Malaysian restaurant. Instead, it offers an impressively original menu that ‘blends Asian flavours with a British twist’. Fried rice is inevitably centre stage - “every table orders it,” Ng says - but the menu also channels Uncle Roger’s playful persona, from a Chinese Wellington riffing on Gordon Ramsay’s signature dish to “black magic” fish and chips and wasabi ‘boom boom’ sausage bao.
Now, after years spent ‘talking shit’ about other chefs online, Ng has opened himself up to the same criticism he has been dishing out, and has even invited Gordon Ramsay in to judge it. Is he ready for it?
This isn’t your first restaurant...
I have five places in Malaysia, but they are fast casual, so it’s quite different to what we’re doing here in London. Some are owner-operated and a couple are franchises. I moved into the restaurant world because my Uncle Roger character talks about food a lot. I started thinking about other ways I could reach my fans and create something fun and interesting. FUIYOH! It’s Uncle Roger launched in a mall in Kuala Lumpur in 2024 on 9 November, which was on purpose.
What learnings have you brought from those restaurants to your new restaurant here in Chinatown?
We weren’t ready for how busy it was. We underestimated demand and the kitchen team struggled at launch. There were very long queues at the start, and it was taking an hour for the food to come out once people sat down. We won’t make that mistake in London, which is part of the reason we ended up delaying the opening multiple times.
You’re not a chef or a restaurant operator in the conventional sense. How have you put your mark on the concept?
I gave Daren Liew, who is a very talented chef, a brief. I wanted innovative dishes. It’s modern Asian cuisine with a slight British twist. I didn’t want to do a Malaysian restaurant, not least because we are right opposite Rasa Sayang, which is one of the best Malaysian restaurants in London. Myself and my team then came in and taste-tested every dish, removed some and tweaked others. We did four rounds in total. I know what my fans want. People who watch my videos - even if they are not Asian - have probably been to Asia and can handle something spicier and more savoury than the average British person, who tends to like Asian food more on the sweet side.
Tell us about the key dishes at Kawan by Uncle Roger
Fried rice is something everyone will order because that is the dish the character is best known for. We have two types and it’s the only wok-cooked dish we offer. If we offered any other wok dishes that section would get jammed up, as every table orders it. But at the moment there’s a dish going even more viral than the fried rice: our Chinese Wellington, which is Uncle Roger’s take on Gordon Ramsay’s beef Wellington (pictured below). I also think Asian baked goods are underrated. The dish has flaky pastry and is made with chicken thigh, mushrooms and lots of Asian spices. I’ve already invited Gordon to come and check it out. We also have Sarawak pepper belly; wasabi ‘boom boom’ sausage bao; Hainanese chicken chop; and even a take on fish and chips.
A big part of your fame comes from critiquing the work of other chefs online. Do you think that puts a target on your back now you have your own restaurants?
Of course. I talk a lot of shit about chefs so people want to see if I can actually produce some good food. I welcome that - it’s part of the job. There are some things we want to get completely correct and leave no space for people to criticise them, not least the fried rice. If I put anything out into the world - whether it’s my stand-up tour, social posts or a restaurant - I want to be proud of it. But clearly, it’s not a solo effort; my team have risen to the challenge.
Fried rice is your signature dish here and also the dish that made Uncle Roger go viral. What makes a good one?
Wok hei is key. And we have a big advantage in a restaurant kitchen because we are working with very powerful wok burners. It’s possible to get that in a home kitchen, but it’s hard. It’s subjective, but I like a strongly flavoured fried rice as opposed to the more subtle Din Tai Fung Taiwanese fried rice, which doesn’t even use soy sauce. I like the flavour to be more than just rice and eggs. I also like there to be some protein in there and some different textures.
You started out as a stand-up comedian. Did food feature in those early sets?
Food has always been important in my comedy. I had a whole five minutes on rice cookers and bits about how much I hate Wagamama and how everyone has food allergies over here and restaurants ask about them. We don’t really have that in Asia. If a street food vendor kills someone, they just pack their shit up and cycle away.
What do you think of the UK’s restaurant scene?
When I started out as a comedian here, I struggled to eat well. I couldn’t afford to eat anywhere good. I did a lot of gigs out in the sticks and ended up eating in places like Wetherspoons and petrol stations. The UK does high-end food really well. But I don’t find it goes so well if you walk into any old place without having done your research. I missed the food culture in Malaysia and that was probably part of the inspiration for those bits, and the genesis for Uncle Roger.
How exactly did the Uncle Roger character come about?
A friend of mine sent me a link to a cookery writer preparing egg fried rice on BBC Food. Immediately I thought this could be funny because fried rice is a dish every Asian knows how to make. It was ridiculous - she was doing crazy and complicated things like rinsing the rice in cold water. And she didn’t use MSG. As a comic, I thought I could make this funny, and I already had the idea for the character bubbling in my head. I did a reaction video - that was the first ever outing for Uncle Roger - and it went viral.
What do you think of London’s Malaysian restaurant scene?
I live in LA so I’m not an expert. The place across the street (Rasa Sayang) is good, but not as good as Kawan by Uncle Roger, so come here instead. I also like Laksamania and Med Salleh. But Giles Coren reviewed it recently and now I can’t get a table, so thanks Giles. But I love seeing my cuisine and my people do well. I would guess the reason we don’t have lots of Malaysian restaurants over here is that the cuisine is so multicultural. When you think about Thai food, a few dishes come to mind straight away. Same with Vietnamese food. In Malaysia we have too many. We have Chinese Malaysian dishes, Malay dishes, Indian Malaysian dishes. It’s hard to gain traction with such a complex cuisine. People ask me what Malaysian food is like - it’s actually a hard question to answer.