Test Driving Kawan by Uncle Roger, a textbook case of how celebrities should open restaurants in London

Nigel Ng (aka Uncle Roger) meets and greets at his new London restaurant

So this is the Uncle Roger restaurant?

It is. If you're familiar with comedian Nigel Ng's character, then you'll know how big a deal he is. If you're not, then let us give you a primer. Originally starting as a YouTube sketch, Ng's caricature of a middle-aged, grumpy Asian uncle, Uncle Roger, went viral five years ago after he made a video poking fun at Jamie Oliver's attempt to cook Chinese fried rice. That's now had a staggering 30m views.

He then took that idea and ran with it, first skewering (before making friends with) Gordon Ramsay and taking down Hersha Patel for rinsing rice in a colander. The key things to know are that he's pro-MSG, hates people who can't make fried rice properly and is good friends with Mei Mei chef Elizabeth Haigh.

And he's opened a restaurant in London?

That's not as crazy a sidequest as it might seem, as Nigel already has six Uncle Roger-themed restaurants in Malaysia. Here in London, he's made the sensible move of teaming up with some serious restaurant professionals in the form of Keng Yew (YiQi and The Eight) and chef Daren Liew (Duddell's and Hakkasan) for his first London opening, Kawan by Uncle Roger.

Where is it?

You'll find it in the heart of Chinatown on Macclesfield Street next door to De Hem's. It couldn't be more central, with both Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus being a few minutes away.

Kawan with the opening weekend queue

Where should we meet friends for a drink first?

Obviously, De Hem's next door would be perfect if you're after a pint of frothy Belgian beer, or The French House if you want a half pint of French beer. There's also the Experimental Cocktail Club just around the corner on Gerard Street, along with Opium for cocktails.

And where should we sit?

First of all, you may have to queue to get a table, as there are no bookings. On opening weekend, that snaked all the way down Shaftesbury Avenue, but on day two, it was down to a shortish queue of around 10 people outside, and it went down pretty quickly. The restaurant is split across two floors, with the ground floor about half the size of the upstairs dining room.

The upstairs dining room at Kawan

What's on the menu?

We were there on opening weekend, dining off the launch menu, so we only saw about half the dishes that'll eventually be on offer here in a few weeks.

Chinatown-style stir-fried rice (£16.90) served in an improbably large handled wok with crispy XO chilli and cubes of lap cheung. Probably the dish that this restaurant will live or die by, and thankfully it was good, particularly when sprinkled liberally with the chilli crack they provide.

Chinese Wellington inspired by “Uncle Gordon” (£28.90) - a puff pastry crusted chicken leg, stuffed with tomato chilli and Teochew butter olive mushrooms.

Amber curry (£15.90) - a chicken and pumpkin curry served with Chinese fried milk bread buns for dunking.

Is there anything on the menu for vegetarians?

Quite a lot as it turns out, including the two dishes we had below:

Curry Cloud Toast - this was a crispy vegan toast, with seaweed, chai gluten, and curry powder.

Silky Hot Mess (£14.90) - their take on mapo tofu featuring a 72 Celsius onsen egg, kimchi cabbage and vegan pork crunch.

Room for dessert?

There was only one when we visited under the very Uncle Roger-coded heading "Happy Endings (Sorry Children)".

Sizzling blue milo (£8.90) - a stupidly tasty dish of dumplings filled with butter and chocolate Milo (a malt-powder drink). They pour on the condensed milk at the table for extra sizzle.

What's on the drinks list?

Before we get to the cocktails, we'd like to draw your attention to the price of the wine, which for the centre of town is startlingly low - 10 out of the 14 bottles on the European list cost £35 or less, with house wine coming in at a bargain £25. That said, we ended up having one of the house Kawan beers, made for Uncle Roger by Black Sheep Brewery in Ripon and a cocktail. There's also a good alcohol-free offering of mocktails, alcohol-free beer and wine and sodas.

Orange Polo (£9.50) - named after Uncle Roger's signature look, this was a lovely, sherbetty cocktail with tequila, elderflower liqueur, Prosecco and orange syrup.

Overall thoughts:

Given how huge Uncle Roger is, Kawan could so easily have been one of those cashing-in restaurants, where the celebrity in question pays basic lip service to the food, counts the money and laughs all the way to the bank. Happily for his fans - and somewhat in preservation for his brand - Nigel/Roger has decided to do things differently. We'd happily have ordered any of our dishes again, the pricing seemed more than fair for the heart of Chinatown and even on Day 2, they seemed to have got a pretty smooth service going, despite the intense level of interest. Fuiyoh indeed!