YouTube culinary comedy icon Uncle Roger to open London restaurant

In what sounds like parody news but is actually real, YouTube personality Uncle Roger is set to open a restaurant in London’s Chinatown this April.

But with a little context, it’s actually not all that surprising.

You don’t have to be terminally online to have stumbled across Uncle Roger’s viral videos in which he criticises — for example — celebrity chefs’ questionable takes on Asian dishes. But Uncle Roger is actually a character from comedian Nigel Ng, who has already launched a series of FUIYOH! It’s Uncle Roger's restaurants in Malaysia.

The first of those opened in 2024, but 2026’s Kawan by Uncle Roger will be the first of his London spots, and this sounds altogether a bit more classy.

It’s the fruit of a partnership between Nigel Ng, restaurateur Keng Yew and Daren Liew. Chef Liew worked at Nanyang Blossom, which opened in Knightsbridge in 2024, and previously cooked at Hakkasan.

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“Kawan is Malay for Friend,” Uncle Roger said on Instagram while announcing the restaurant’s April 4th opening date.

“I know April 4 is not good date for Chinese culture but it too bad, August 8 is too far away.”

Kawan is found at 12 Macclesfield Street. It’s the former site of a Taiwanese chicken shop, Monga Fried Chicken, and will have room for around 60 diners across its 1600 square feet of restaurant space.

While Uncle Roger’s videos are all about revealing the non-authentic takes on Asian food posted online, Kawan isn’t going to have a hyper-authentic menu, instead aiming for something a bit more approachable.

We’re talking about Asian dishes with a British sensibility. We don’t yet have the full menu to interpret what this really means, but it seems safe to assume there will be some form of Uncle Roger signature fried rice on there.

“Hopefully, when tourists come to London, they’ll stop going to Dishoom and go to my place instead,” Nigel Ng — not in character as Uncle Roger for once — told Hot Dinners, which has interviewed the comedian-slash-restaurateur, should you want to know more background.

A Kawanlondon Instagram account has been established for the restaurant, which has teased this news quietly since September 2025. And its bio offers a link for a Kawan Secret Army WhatsApp group, which may be the best place to get the jump on early reservations.

There's also apparently a QR code at the restaurant site itself that gives you “a good surprise" , but we imagine this may also just get you setup with the restaurant's "secret" WhatsApp group.

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