Rice-ing to the occasion for Nigel Ng, aka Uncle Roger

The Star

Malaysian YouTube phenomenon Nigel Ng talks about his career trajectory and why he decided to open his first Uncle Roger restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00MSG!

00:04Nigel Ng, best known for his alter ego Uncle Roger,

00:07is a stark contrast to the character he plays,

00:10who is famous for his slouch, quirky speech

00:12and humorous mockery of culinary icons

00:15like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

00:18Uncle Roger is a composite of all the Asian uncles

00:22I grew up with, you know.

00:23You see them at the kopitiam,

00:25they just sit like they talk a lot of crap,

00:27then they have an opinion on everything,

00:29will roast you to your face.

00:32But ultimately, I think that they're just kind people

00:34on the inside, although they are stuck in their ways.

00:37Born in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur,

00:39Ng pursued engineering in the United States

00:42before settling in England,

00:43where he worked as a data scientist.

00:46His passion for stand-up comedy

00:48eventually led him to quit his job

00:50and pursue comedy full-time.

00:52Ng became a viral sensation in 2020 as Uncle Roger,

00:57following his critique of a BBC egg fried rice tutorial.

01:00His success brought both fans and critics,

01:03with some accusing him of perpetuating Asian stereotypes.

01:08Despite this, Ng believes Uncle Roger connects

01:10with people in ways he couldn't as himself.

01:13I view Uncle Roger as a character

01:16that allows me to reach more people

01:17than I would be able to.

01:19Stand-up is great, you know, it has its own audience.

01:21It's a different art form,

01:23but playing a character reaches different people,

01:26being on YouTube also reaches different people.

01:29And as a character, it's easier to lean your comedy

01:33into a certain niche, right?

01:35So Uncle Roger is known as this guy

01:36who talks about food a lot.

01:37And I feel like if I talk about food as myself,

01:41it will come across a little less credible

01:44because I didn't go to a culinary school.

01:46I just did some, I just learned how to cook by myself.

01:48I just researched dishes.

01:50But Uncle Roger, it's a character

01:52who's very opinionated about food.

01:54And when he talks about food,

01:55it's more entertaining and it's more authoritative.

01:59Recently, Ng opened his first restaurant, Fuiyoh.

02:02It's Uncle Roger at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur,

02:04a project a year in the making.

02:06Why would Ng choose to open a restaurant

02:08and jeopardize everything he has built,

02:10especially his reputation as a pseudo food critic?

02:13I think there's always gonna be people criticizing,

02:16you know, and that's just a normal part

02:18of being a creator online.

02:20So when I was doing stand-up,

02:23you know, people are like,

02:24yeah, it's good, but you talk about Asian stuff too much.

02:28But then when I created Uncle Roger,

02:30people are like, okay, well, this is not really stand-up.

02:33Why are you making these cringe videos?

02:35And then now when I open a restaurant,

02:36now they're like, don't open a restaurant,

02:37stick to YouTube.

02:39People are always gonna say things,

02:40but as long as I put out a good product,

02:42whether it's like a book I'm working on

02:45or my videos or this restaurant,

02:49if the food, if I believe the food is good

02:51and we really do believe the food is good,

02:53we've done a lot of research,

02:55and as long as I'm putting out a good product,

02:56stand-up tours, books, whatever, content,

02:59then I can breathe happy, I can sleep easy.

03:02Eng said he was deeply involved

03:04in the concept and menu development.

03:06I think if there's a title called fried rice scholar,

03:09I think I'm deserving of one

03:10because I've eaten all different fried rice

03:13from all different countries.

03:14I even tried fried quinoa.

03:16With dishes starting at 16 ringgit for egg fried rice

03:20and add-ons like grilled unagi priced at 29 ringgit,

03:23Eng believes the pricing is fair

03:25considering the high traffic location

03:28and premium rental costs.

03:30It's nice, it's bougie, it's classy,

03:32it's above a Chanel, you know?

03:37It's good for the brand, you know?

03:38And Pavilion, because it's such an atas mall,

03:42I think we can come in with a dish

03:44that's competitively priced.

03:47While the restaurant has received mixed reviews

03:49on food, pricing and wait times,

03:52Eng has taken the criticism in stride

03:54and remains focused on improving.

03:56In terms of the people saying too much MSG, too oily,

03:59it's like, yes, I can see everybody

04:03has a subjective opinion about food.

04:05I won't be able to please everyone, right?

04:08But I think we did that for a reason

04:11because that fits our palate and we like that.

04:14And fried rice, yeah, you need oil to fried rice.

04:17And MSG, yes, it's the brand.

04:19I personally love MSG.

04:20I think it's the brand, it's the Uncle Roger persona.

04:23He's gonna use MSG.

04:25Yeah, you just need to be able to roll with the punches,

04:27take the positive comments,

04:29read the positive comments, you know,

04:30and read the negative comments,

04:32but just analyze where the constructive parts

04:34of the negative comments are,

04:35learn from them and just move on.

04:37At just 33, Eng already has plans

04:40to expand the Uncle Roger restaurant brand.

04:42Well, I'm from here, so I feel, you know,

04:46I think because the food here is so good,

04:47if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

04:49So if I can nail the concept here,

04:51then we expand, continue expanding in Asia,

04:53and then hopefully Australia as well, UK, US.

04:56That's future plans.

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