'Uncle Roger', the internet's favourite fried rice critic, opening a ...

Nigel Ng, better known by his alter ego ‘Uncle Roger’, has teased opening a restaurant in Malaysia later this year. — Picture by Choo Choy May

By Ethan Lau

Wednesday, 03 Jul 2024 4:45 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — Nigel Ng, better known by his alter ego “Uncle Roger”, has teased opening a restaurant in Malaysia later this year.

He mentioned this midway through his latest video posted on July 1, “Uncle Roger Miss Anthony Bourdain”, commenting over a clip of the late Bourdain eating the famous Penang Air Itam Laksa on a 2012 episode of No Reservations.

“Nieces and nephews, that’s why if you like food, you have to travel to Uncle Roger’s country, Malaysia,” he says, in the exaggerated accent that brought him fame. “Because so many ingredients we don’t export. You can’t get it outside of this country.”

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“By the way, another reason to go (to) Malaysia, Uncle Roger actually going to open my very first restaurant over there. Fuiyoh!” He concludes by saying the restaurant is “coming soon later this year”.

The 33-year-old has achieved significant success — including 9.34 million subscribers on YouTube — critiquing and “reviewing” videos of chefs and other individuals cooking while in character, which is most commonly associated with egg fried rice.

It remains to be seen how his first venture into restaurants will fare, or what dishes will feature from a “food YouTuber talking shit”, as he describes himself later in the video.

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Those dying to get a taste of Uncle Roger’s food can consider his US$29.99 (RM141.52) Creamy Chili Crab Pasta, made in partnership with MìLà, an American ready-to-eat dumpling and noodle brand.