Comedian Uncle Roger teases opening of his first restaurant in Malaysia ‘later this year’
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Uncle Roger revealed the news in a video posted on his YouTube channel on July 1.
PHOTO: LIVE NATION
Internet personality Uncle Roger, whose real name is Nigel Ng, has announced that he will soon open his first restaurant in Malaysia.
The 33-year-old London-based Malaysian comic revealed the news in a video posted on his YouTube channel, which has more than nine million followers, on July 1.
The 16-minute video sees Ng, in his persona as Uncle Roger, reviewing an episode of the late American chef Anthony Bourdain eating his way around Penang, Malaysia, in the travel and food show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005 to 2012).
At around the halfway mark, while commenting on the assam laksa that Bourdain is having, Ng talks about the bunga kantan plant (torch ginger flower) used to season the dish. The plant is rarely found in food outside of South-east Asia.
He says: “That’s why if you like food, you have to travel to Uncle Roger’s country Malaysia because so many ingredients – we don’t export. You can’t get it outside this country.”
Then, he adds, with a pointed look to the camera: “By the way, another reason to go (to) Malaysia, Uncle Roger (is) actually gonna open my very first restaurant over there. Fuiyoh! Coming soon later this year, but shh, don’t tell anyone this little secret. (It’s) just for loyal nieces and nephews watching this video.”
He refers to his followers and viewers as his nieces and nephews. He also frequently uses Malaysian slang like “fuiyoh”, which is an exclamation akin to wow, and Cantonese phrase “haiyaa”, used to express disappointment or frustration – as catchphrases in his videos.
No further details about the upcoming restaurant venture were revealed in the video. He pinned his own comment under the video, once again reminding his viewers to keep the announcement a secret.
The video currently has over 1.2 million views.
Ng’s alter ego Uncle Roger went viral in 2020 for criticising a BBC Food video on how to make egg fried rice. The persona is known for speaking with an exaggerated Cantonese accent and deliberately broken English.
Ng was in Singapore in 2022 for two shows as part of his comedy tour titled Haiyaa – one was held at the Capitol Theatre in June and the other was staged at The Theatre at Mediacorp in August. He announced the second show at Mediacorp after the first show sold out quickly.
He is working with Chinese-American food brand MiLa to sell a creamy Singaporean-inspired chili crab pasta. The pasta is only available in America and each kit, which comes with two bundles of bucatini pasta and two packets of sauce with crab in it, retails for US$29.99 (S$40).
