“Golden Bell Best Actor” Christopher Lee, “Singapore’s King of Comedy” Mark Lee, and “Taiwanese Variety Show Evergreen” Hsiao-shun Hsu are participating in the Malaysia-Taiwan co-produced film "NOGOOD! Uncle", with the crew coming to Penang for filming.
The Taiwanese crew members were eating instant noodles in Penang, which made Christopher Lee feel very “embarrassed”. He immediately transformed into the “Penang Food Ambassador” and brought them to eat some good food!
He revealed that during the filming in Penang, every morning at breakfast, he would hear the crew from Taiwan mention that they had instant noodles the previous night. He resolutely said, “You can’t do this! You’ve come all the way to Malaysia, to Penang, you can’t just do that (only eat instant noodles), I feel embarrassed!”
Director Jacky Chang admitted that he had been eating instant noodles and bento these days, but has also tried some of the stronger-flavored local foods, which he quite enjoys.
On Thursday (31st), director Jacky Chang, together with the main cast of “NOGOOD! Uncle”—Mark Lee (Chusheng), Christopher Lee (Yongzhu), Hsiao-shun Hsu (Xianglin), and Peijia Huang (ZOE)—gave an exclusive interview to Kwong Wah Daily and shared interesting stories and moments from filming in Penang.
The only female cast member Peijia Huang said that on the first day of filming, Christopher Lee took everyone for grilled seafood, including grilled stingray. It was her first time realizing that the stingray she saw in the aquarium was actually edible. Embracing a sense of curiosity, she tried it and immediately fell in love.
Hsiao-shun Hsu immediately joked, not all stingrays are edible, some are marine conservation species, and he mentioned Peijia said something that almost made them lose their appetite!
“She said stingrays stick to the aquarium glass with a ‘smiling face’, but here we are eating them, and yet she ended up eating the most.”
He also shared that in Penang he tasted very rich curry dishes, liked the colorful food, and was amazed by the Nyonya kuih. Since he himself is afraid of food that is too sweet or salty, he could only take moderate tastes, just trying a little.
He said it was the first time he saw people dipping youtiao (fried dough sticks) in coffee. Mark Lee commented, “We have eaten it for decades already and still managed to grow tall and strong.”
Christopher Lee pointed out that many foods in Malaysia are a mixture of the three main ethnicities, and he would explain to the Taiwanese crew which community certain foods originated from.
Mark Lee continued, saying that the Taiwanese crew were very curious about Malaysian food, and in tasting them, also learned about the culture and history behind the dishes, such as Nyonya cuisine.
“Everyone has expanded their food knowledge during this trip to Penang; even eating durian can spark half a day’s discussion.”
He joked that when he learned he would be filming in Penang, he thought to himself “Great, it feels like this time I’m not here for work, but to eat and travel instead.”