In the new Hulu show Interior Chinatown, a background actor trapped playing different cliched Asian characters on a police procedural gets involved in Chinatown’s crime scene. Comedian Ronny Chieng, who co-stars on the show, based on the much-lauded book of the same name, is a bit of a connoisseur of Chinatown neighborhoods around the world, having lived in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and now the United States. “It’s pretty funny, because the idea of Chinatown is basically in a non-Asian country, right? But the best Chinatowns are probably in Malaysia or Singapore,” says Chieng, who remains a senior correspondent on The Daily Show. “But damn, I’m biased. I have to go with New York City. It’s my Chinatown and I think it’s the best Chinatown. It’s got food, tailors, massage places, coffee. New York City’s Chinatown is where it’s at.”
As he wrapped up his Love to Hate It comedy tour, Ronny Chieng chatted with Condé Nast Traveler about returning to Japan again and again, eating kaya toast in Singapore, and wondering why hotel staff won’t leave him in peace.
What he wants in a vacation:
When I go on vacation, I don’t like to do touristy things, so I tend to go to places I’m somewhat familiar with, like Hawaii, where I feel like a local there, or Japan—my wife and I go almost every year, so we have our spots. Japan is such a great mental reset. You can’t help but leave kind of refreshed. I like to go to Singapore because my mom is there. I love the food and I know how to get around. I also feel like a local in Australia because I lived there for so long, and same with Malaysia. I just like to go at a slow pace.
Where he eats in Singapore:
I go to my usual spots in Singapore. I actually have a food guide on Apple Maps, so if people want to see it, they can log into that. I usually go to Tong Ah Eating House, and I get the teh tarik, which is a milk tea. It’s one of the few places in Singapore where you can still get it made from scratch. They have really good kaya toast, which is egg and coconut jam, and coffee pork ribs.