In this episode of Before We Get There, host Nicholas Braman interviews Davis Ng, a professional boxer and chef. Davis recently won the WBC Silver Asia Middleweight title and runs a unique fusion restaurant in Singapore, Kemuri BBQ, which combines Texas barbecue with Japanese culinary influences. Davis shares insights into his boxing career, overcoming setbacks, starting a food business while in culinary school, and his epic internship in a famous Austin barbecue joint. He also talks about the challenges and rewards of opening and running his restaurant and balancing his boxing career. Tune in to hear about Davis’s journey, his inspirations, and future aspirations.
Guest links:
Kemuri BBQ: https://www.instagram.com/kemuribbq.sg/
BaconKing SG: https://www.instagram.com/baconking.sg/
Davis Ng: https://www.instagram.com/davistheking/
Podcast links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beforewegettherepodcast/ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nicholasbraman
Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/before-we-get-there-podcast/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h9gsrWKH9C1KY1OzR12kr?si=2a4d19970632465f
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-we-get-there/id1775182252
Nicholas: Welcome to Before We Get There, the podcast where we explore people’s journeys, how they got to where they are, what keeps them pushing forward, and where they eventually want to get to. I am your host, Nicholas Braman, and today I am joined by Davis Ng, a professional boxer and chef who just won the WBC silver Asia middleweight title.
His restaurant, Kamarik. which is Texas barbecue and Japanese fusion is in Balustier and you can order smoked meat to cook at home from BaconKing. sg. In this discussion, we talked about his boxing career and getting over defeats, how he launched his first business while still in culinary school, His epic internship at a famous Austin barbecue joint, how he ended up opening a restaurant so quickly, and much, much more.
Enjoy the show. First of all, congratulations. You just won the WBC Asia Silver Middleweight Championship. Yeah, thank you. so much. Yeah, congratulations. So how long have you been boxing?
Davis Ng: I’ve been boxing for about 11 years.
Nicholas: Wow. And how many matches have you had in that time?
Davis Ng: Including my amateurs, I would say about 40 to 55.
Nicholas: Wow. That’s a lot. So how long did it take you to get in the rankings or contention to be a champion?
Davis Ng: Cause I was only like, I started pro when I was 20 and then it took, because of like, school, army and everything. So I took that on a career and then. Um, basically it’s, uh, you know, since I started pro, four or five year, about there.
Yeah. To get into the ranking and catch up to everyone. Wow.
Nicholas: And it’s, it’s, I think it’s safe to say this was the biggest fight of your career so far. And so how did that feel when you were preparing and then finally afterwards, after you won?
Davis Ng: When I was preparing, it was more, I just had to cope with the business, the food business.
Then on top of trading a lot more than I would in the previous start. I would say it a lot. It’s quite tough. Uh, a lot of pressure. Um, a lot of stress. And then, uh, when it finally came to the day, it bought the five when in the weigh ins it was a top, it was like, uh, I think we had to cut like about five kilos in on that day.
Wow. Yeah, it was tough, but after the fight it was. It was emotional and, uh, very, he, although he gets surreal.
Nicholas: And so how did you get started boxing? I started,
Davis Ng: I always wanted to, I’ve always loved boxing, like around the age of nine. And then my dad, he want this, like, like I say, you’re a usual Muammar Ali.
Um, so growing up, I was just.
Watching what Ewok is, that kind of built unknown passion in me and him. And then from there I started secondary school, which is St. Andrews. I don’t know if you’ve heard, like they had boxing every national day. So I joined boxing when I started after secondary school to 15 years old. Yeah. So that from there, and then I had like an experience and then.
That’s where after secondary school, I joined the gym and then I’ll fight promotion.
Nicholas: So you’ve been with that gym all the way?
Davis Ng: All the way, 11 years, all the way.
Nicholas: Wow. That’s cool. I do some combat sports, Jiu Jitsu mostly, and then a little bit of striking Muay Thai. One of my favorite things about, uh, being in a combat sport is the bond that you build with your gym mates and kind of the community that’s there.
I’m sure that’s even stronger, you growing up around the gym and around the, the team.
Davis Ng: I would say gym mates aside, the best relationship you’re going to have with is your coach. It’s the coaches, next thing through the founder of the gym. We spent, on and off, many problems that we had to go through. Many, you know, with the moving of the gym, all that stuff.
And also we are the organizer of the KTX events. We have to, up till now, it’s, I think the event I fought was KVX 65. So that’s a lot of the event, especially in Singapore, that bond with him. I just can’t like being there for 11 years under his wing. It showed me a lot, how he would take care of me and just make sure that every fight I am on top.
Yeah. End of the day.
Nicholas: Yeah, that’s a, a really cool relationship and I’m sure it’s helped you outside of just boxing, right? But usually it is a, a mentor figure like that. You’ll take some lessons into other parts of your life as well.
Davis Ng: Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. Other than that, I would say like army, he was used to be an ex like a regular in the army and then what I went through in army, top pairings, he was there as well.
Nicholas: And I think that boxing 40 matches is, is a lot of matches. So. Have you had some losses during, during that time?
Davis Ng: Yeah, definitely. I learned a lot from some losses. Some losses were felt like a robbery, like in all, it’s all a part of it. Yeah. But I learned a lot.
Nicholas: Are there any in particular that stand out as being the toughest to take?
Davis Ng: I think I would say like the, uh, maybe one of the professional funds with, and Indonesian. I lost again by, uh, uh, with decision. I, in the fifth round, if I remember correctly, it was, I swore a knockdown, but the referee said it was the fifth, but it was quite clear it was a knockdown. And if that were, if that were to be a knockdown, it would have been up here with things like that in professional boxing, it happened.
Yeah. So we just got to take it and move on and be stronger.
Nicholas: So how did you get over it after the fight was over?
Davis Ng: It’s just back. It’s just back to square, the square one, you gotta just reset and make sure that like your conditioning is right and everything because back then, uh, I believe that was like my second or third fight, professional fight and I didn’t, I would comparatively feel like other professional boxers in Singapore, having a loss two fights or three fights in is not the most ideal for, you know, for that career end of the day, it’s, um, just moving forward.
You know, keeping your head up and then focusing on the main goal, which is just let the inquiry from you.
Nicholas: Yeah. So I wanted to get back to boxing later, but before we get too far into this, one of the, the most interesting things about you and actually how I came to know you is through your food businesses when you started smoking bacon, I think was the first thing you did.
Maybe you can share a bit about how that started. I think you went to culinary school, but this home, home business of smoking bacon in your backyard, how did that all start?
Davis Ng: Okay. So I was in, during the City of Marybeth, CIA. If you heard of that, we are the only international branch in Singapore. I started my culinary journey there.
That was the class in Dar Majid. And that trust was just on smoking, curing me smoking. And then I thought it was really primal and cool of just preserving me to salt and smoking it to preserve it. That made me fall in love with the art of, of, uh, curing meat. Yeah. I started the business just out of, like it just happened because I just wanted to cure bacon.
Bacon. Out of nowhere and then maybe like I had a small little weather grill and then I used that to set like the indirect heat and then just smoke a small little piece of bacon that I jerk. Yeah, and then that turned out sprung into something that I started by smoking, putting it into my, uh, my ex girlfriend’s place.
And then I would smoke.
Nicholas: Is that, is that why she’s your ex, ex girlfriend? No, I think that’s pretty Uh, interesting in itself to go to CIA. I didn’t even realize I was in the F& B industry for a while in the U. S. I know some chefs and of course, I’m big fans of some celebrity chefs, Anthony Bourdain, etc. But, so I’ve heard of CIA before, but I had no idea that there was a branch here.
How did you find, end up, find your love for food in the first place and want to go to the, Culinary Institute for your education.
Davis Ng: How did I find out? Like my family loves to cook. It was like a, every family there for the food, it’s always an event. That’s always food in an event. And I would say just growing up, looking at like my grandma, how she cooks and that’s my dad, that kind of like revolves around me, the idea of, and the love of cooking, I just, but I didn’t like help.
I didn’t help them with those, uh, stuff. But. Um, I think it was like maybe secondary school or primary school. I started the fry, fry, right? Yeah. But that was like the start of just trying to cook. Yeah. Yeah. I also grew up with Asian food channel and all that kind of stuff. Like my family just grew up coaching there.
And
Nicholas: so then you made the decision that you wanted to be a chef. And so that’s why you went to CIA.
Davis Ng: Yeah, I would say that because when I was later into my, maybe college years at 70 years old, uh, that I started like cooking like more steaks for my dad’s friend. Uh, and then like they, the encouragement for me and all of these really good steaks, all that kind of support sparked the interest of maybe I should go to a professional school.
And then, yeah, then I would say that’s how it started. Yeah.
Nicholas: And was that a, a difficult decision because I think in Singapore, first of all, Singaporeans love their food, um, and you have the whole hawker culture, which, you know, people know that it’s getting less and less original hawkers are retiring and not all of their kids want to go into the family business.
So I would say that the culinary world is not a very traditional career path in Singapore. So what was your thought process around that?
Davis Ng: Okay, it wasn’t a really difficult decision for me, but it was like, I had to convince my parents because most parents wouldn’t want, you know, kid to be in the kitchen, it’s like a tough, like, long hours and all that.
But for the opera culture and everything, I would say like, the younger generation, there are more and more younger generations going into the opera culture. get only and, and some even like picking all over their grandparents stall, and things. But I think, there are, with the prices and everything, the hotferries, they are moving towards the light up because, people are more generally more accepting of 7, Hokkien mee.
I think it’s OK, and I wouldn’t say it would affect, like the, the culinary, how do I say? The, the quality. Restaurant industry, and it wouldn’t be a comfy thing, thing. People want to go to Hopper, easily go to Hopper. If you want to have an experience in restaurants, they are more than willing to stay in a restaurant now and then.
Nicholas: So, yeah, I think people always like to complain about the Hopper prices going up, but the fact of the matter is their materials and ingredients are, are going up as well. And, I think Singaporeans are very lucky to be able to find such affordable food anywhere you go in the country and not only affordable but delicious.
I remember I was in Australia earlier this year and it’s similar in the U. S. The only cheap food, which is not really as cheap as Singapore, but the only cheap food you can find is fast food. And it’s unhealthy, mass produced, frozen. So I think we’re really lucky here that you can get so much affordable food around.
Once you started smoking bacon and you started off small, and then how did you turn it into a business from this experiment that you did?
Davis Ng: We, I started like selling to their chef friends in, in, in my class, like at cost, and then from there we decided to get, just start an Instagram handle. We just use the Instagram mark marketing functions and no, you cannot book.
We got like uh, Halloween clothes then. Growth of Halloween pie. Before we know it, we were up to a thousand followers. And then we were up to our neck with that. Back then, where I was smoking wasn’t at my home. But where I was curing that need, it was at my home. I cured at my home and I smoked 13 km away from my home.
Unexpected. thing for it to grow into such a business. But I paid all the hard work, like we were just waking up early in the morning and then finishing the smoke at the point and because our snowplow was just too small, we had to do three batches of smoking in a day. And then just a cooler full of smoke, like a, what do you buy?
Like a cooler box. Yeah. Huge ones, full of vaping, smoke vaping into my car. My car, it’s not like the Big Ben mobile, was that it was so strong. And then by the time you’re done with packing those Big Ben sleds and putting it to chill for the night, it’s 4 a. m., 5 a. m. So we just, me and my friends and I, my parents, they also helped out.
And then don’t forget, we had the flights, the Big Ben, yeah, for the audience and that thing still don’t. So it was like, A low process, just selling anything, you know, so it was a pretty good, pretty unforgettable, uh, journey. Yeah.
Nicholas: And the kind of business side of things, do they teach that at, at the CIA as well?
Or was it just hands on experience as you went?
Davis Ng: That was, I would say, yeah, they, because it’s like a business, full business management degree, a bachelor’s degree. So they taught that, uh, managerial accounting and all that kind of stuff. Of course, I’m marketing and psychology and everything, but that was in like the later part of the degree, I think second year.
So at the start, we weren’t, we were just like doing our hands on, our kitchen, learning the basics, fundamentals and everything.
Nicholas: That’s really cool. Cause I, I’m a marketer professionally myself as well. So I heard about you’re making business from a friend. On Instagram, and then I followed you and started being a loyal customer.
So it’s a really interesting case study in action of your business was able to grow so quickly. And then recently, I think in the past year and a half, you’ve opened up a restaurant location. Can you share about your restaurant?
Davis Ng: Okay, so the restaurant is called Kimberley Barbecue. And Kimberley is just smoke in Japanese.
It’s, uh, off the Murray Bennie food. With Asian influence sharing the hair. But I introduce an Australian with you. Brisket of our bees is from Australia. And they are also like crossbreed with Wagyu. Wagyu is just a very loose term, but we like to use it just because of the quality and the marbling, but it’s not just for the namesake.
I’m
Nicholas: just sorry. Just one second to clarify for the listeners. It’s a Southern United States cuisine, not South American cuisine, Southern United States barbecue.
Davis Ng: So like Texas, New York, North Carolina, that kind of.
Nicholas: And so why did you decide to make it fusion with Japanese?
Davis Ng: When I was in Texas for internship, like when CIA sent me to Texas for internship, I just thought that having, being an Asian myself, having barbecue every day, Without rice, without the Asian staple, that was like, hard for me.
I just don’t have bread and frisbees and pickles every day as my meal. So I just had to have, like, rice. And then what that kind of sparked and inspiration for me for this, this restaurant, which is, I thought, sushi rice, and it’s like vinegar seasoned rice. So I thought maybe putting it as a don or bowl. I write all the barbecued meats, which fatty barbecue meat, and these are vinegarized, all that, like those, and all, it could be like the everyday Colombian staple for people in Singapore.
Nicholas: So you actually went to the U S and studied at a famous barbecue joint?
Davis Ng: Yeah, it was Laura Newyth Barbecue. Laura Newyth Barbecue in Austin, Texas.
Nicholas: And you said that was an internship as part of your program? Hungary.
Davis Ng: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicholas: But did you get to choose? Because obviously you were already doing the smoking then, so you must have chosen to find this particular place to go?
Davis Ng: Yeah, I chose. So like my dean, my dean helped, helped me like look for a barbecue joint that could accept me as their leader. Yeah. She had linked with Leroy Lewis Barbecue and I’m not, I wasn’t the first graduate. Right. Right. Right. Yeah, I wasn’t the first CIA student to go there. It was, I don’t know if you heard, Maul from Small Bollard Cue.
Yeah, he was the first guy that way to learn who’s the hinter. I went there and then that was where I started learning Texan Bollard Cue.
Nicholas: And so how is it like living in Austin and being by yourself there and getting adjusted?
Davis Ng: It was, yeah, surreal at first that I, I didn’t think that I would ever live in America, but like the media and how it’s portrayed, I thought that it would be somewhat a dangerous place, but it’s, to be honest, like the experience there was peaceful, the people there were beautiful, like nice, friendly, and really gentleman.
And then the, just working there, I would say like the, it wasn’t really much of a culture shock for me because I just love the, uh, how they were just by, by itself. Like just having beers while you’re smoking briskets and that’s the kind of life that I’m.
Nicholas: And so you were just very hands on learning on the job basically for your internship.
Davis Ng: But they had me on middle shift. So they had three shifts, opening and closing. So they had me on the middle shift, and that’s where I would learn a lot of how we would rotate the braised steaks. Sometimes I would be at that commissary where they would do their prep, because then Leroy Lewis was our food truck.
So that’s where we would work, and that’s where we would sell, um, the braised steaks. I mean, sell the barbeque meat, and smoked the meat. But in the commissary, you would trim the braised steaks, trim the beef cheek. All that kind of stuff. Butchery was there, at there. And then smoking was, and smoking and fire management was at the theme shop.
Nicholas: And how much, because I, being in Singapore now for a long time, I can’t remember the last time I had brisket here. I know there’s a few places and a couple of famous ones, but how much had you actually had brisket as a diner before you went there? Not
Davis Ng: much. So I just, I, I didn’t really try. I only went to Red Eye Smokehouse.
Singapore.
Nicholas: So you had your baking business going successfully and you were busy with that, but then it was like also a pretty big leap to open up your restaurant. So how did that happen?
Davis Ng: I would say it’s, I just got the confidence to, after I came from Texas, I got the, a better understanding of how, uh. a quick, kind of like a quick service restaurant work, and then I just wanted to apply what I learned from Texas, and then just share it with Singaporeans around me.
So using that kind of same operation style, I tried to apply it to the restaurant that I was planning to do. But that kind of like, there was a lot of adaptations, or there was a lot of adapting. That I had to do with this, with this new restaurant, because at first we, when I came back from Texas, we had this previous cloud kitchen at Calm, like Smarts with one of those like smart city kitchens.
And then the concept was to go with, it was still like Cambry barbecue. We just sold like the dawn breweries and all that true. Like all the delivery platforms. So there was no like dine in that was just fully on grab, delivery and food vendor. In Woodlands or Lambas, that area, we just found that we were struggling.
We couldn’t really show what we were trying to do, you know, because it’s no matter what, yeah, you don’t have a server or you don’t have a host to tell you like, okay, this is Texan barbecue. There’s no educating of like your diners. So they will just think it’s all beef and rice. So, um, end of the day, I wouldn’t say it’s, and we are a new brand.
So it’s very difficult to get like constant or like a sustainable amount of orders to survive. And I think the rent was a lot higher, Gambas, at the pre, at like this Cloud Kitchen than this current place. So it was a lot more sustainable when we, in fact, we, we terminated our lease early, just so that, because we found Balestier Plaza.
Yeah, because it was such a deal and then we just, at that point, we just wanted to have a better environment. a more private location for us to do our smoking and the barbecue of and to support our Bacon King side of things which is the, what do you call it, the deliveries and grocery sales and all that kind of stuff.
Slowly we started to see traffic, like some human traffic, and they were asking like what we were doing and what kind of food we are selling and all that kind of stuff. And that was when we decided to maybe open up a little bit for a dine in. Started from there and now it’s after basically what happened.
After a year, we transitioned from a small little dine in to a 40 to 45 pax restaurant, which is quite a leap. So I feel it just started from adapting and moving to the correct circumstance and making sure that the business is sustainable.
Nicholas: And so how was that process of then getting more diners to eat in and doing the whole front of house service?
Is that new? Cause you wanted, if it was, you said it was a barbecue truck in Texas, right? So they didn’t really have a dining area.
Davis Ng: Yeah. They, it was more like a, for them, it was more like, like they have park benches. They just have their trays of barbecue meats and they just sit down and eat there and they’d buzz themselves, you know, like they don’t have to.
But for us, we were new, we, until now, we’re still like washing plates, you know, with hand. We don’t have dishwashers. And it’s just something that we really had to learn, which is the process of how we’re gonna, the entire SOP, standard procedure, how we are going to, from cooking the food in an appropriate amount of time to sending out the food.
And to, uh, busing the food and turning over that table process, we had to, like, my family and I, my friends that started all this with me, we had, like, differences and we went through a lot to set something in stone where we know that this way would work. And I would say now we’re still learning and trying to get better and better.
in this way.
Nicholas: You mentioned it was really actually the customers that came there and showed interest that made you realize, Oh, this is going to work better for dining in, right?
Davis Ng: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I think they just thought that it’s something very unique. You’re not going to hear Tex, Texan and Japanese fusions just like that, right?
This is something that is definitely out of the usual. So they just thought that the diners would. They want to enjoy what we do and they feel like the people that tried our food and at the first part felt like we had the heart and we had the kind of culinary know how to make something out of this, but we just needed like a proper set up because back then we just didn’t know what we were trying to be.
Nicholas: So how, when you mentioned that customers would come in and ask you about the background, or what is this Texas barbecue and Japanese fusion together is something very unusual. Um, you realized that you mentioned earlier that when people actually talked to you, they became much more interested in trying the food rather than just seeing a photo of it on a delivery app.
Davis Ng: Basically what I would try to do to like, uh, the customers, um, invested It’s just because when I was in Texas, they kind of show the process of smoking the meats and like looking at the smoker. And I want customers to look at what we were doing in the kitchen. So I’ll just invite some of the regulars to come in and just take a look at the, what we were smoking on that day and explain to them the processes.
And like a lot of people never seen like what, I mean, a lot of Singaporeans, they wouldn’t have seen like a actual smoker. running with kilos of brisket in there and short ribs. So to them, it’s something like they know that this 12 hour process, they are paying for that. You’re not just like any sous vide meat that they are paying for.
They are paying something that is like painstakingly managing the fire, paying someone that’s painstakingly like managing the fire and all that. So I believe that showcase of our craft helps us. to relay that, that love and that sudden kind of hospitality that we try to bring from Texas.
Nicholas: Yeah, it’s interesting because I think in the U.
S., barbecue is something Like maybe laksa or char kway teow in Southeast Asia. Texas has one kind of barbecue. Other parts of the U S have different kinds, whether it’s wet or dry, whether it’s whole hog or, or brisket. And just like in Singapore, wherever different people have their opinion about where the best Hokkien mee is or where the best bok choy mee is, when they grew up with a certain type of barbecue, that’s what they really love.
So you guys focus on beef, but you do ribs or any other type of barbecue as well?
Davis Ng: We do our own pool pork with UK Berkshire pork, pork, but, and then we do it like Asian with a Asian flair where we use like mirin and uh, soy sauce and what do you call it? Seven Japanese, seven spices. That’s our take on the pool pork.
We use rice vinegars instead of like apple cider or just distilled vinegar. We have our own St. St. Louis pork ribs. And then, so a lot of it, I wouldn’t say we made, we have our own gumbos as well. We sell our own gumbos, the jambalayas and all that. There’s a lot of mix of southern roots.
Nicholas: Yeah, they look great.
So what do you think the difference has been for your development, starting your baking business and then now opening a restaurant, uh, on your own, having only done the six months internship rather than, you know, And I think a lot of chefs go through stages of working under well renowned chefs for many years before they get to open their own restaurant.
Davis Ng: I would definitely have liked to work a little bit more with other chefs and all that. Um, but now I have to learn more. and adapt more by myself. Um, and then maybe I would try to, if this restaurant is a little bit more self sufficient and self sustainable than able to run by itself, I would definitely like to, uh, work with other chefs.
So I would say maybe doing more like collabs with other chefs to learn about different. styles of cooking, uh, different tricks and all that.
Nicholas: No, I think it’s quite amazing because I am, I’m sure that there’s a lot of chefs who are super talented and could have delicious food and have restaurants where people would want to eat.
Once you get into the grind and the routine of working for somebody else and you have bills to pay, always, it’s going to get harder and harder to start your own thing. It was, it’s a great opportunity, I think, for you to, Basically learn on your own and who knows what will develop. I guess you probably never thought that you’d have the restaurant when you started smoking the picket at home anyway.
Davis Ng: Yeah, never would have thought. I think a lot of it comes from like the support and help from my parents and also my two really good friends. And they have been behind me, pushing me. forward and I could only, I think I’m really blessed basically like to have them. Yeah.
Nicholas: And going back to boxing, having professional fights plus your everyday training.
Opening a restaurant, running a business, how do you fit everything?
Davis Ng: For the preparation for the fight was, I trained every morning because that’s what my schedule can. About six days a week, I’ll train at about 9 to 10 a. m. all the way up to 1 p. m., something like that. And then I would rush home, take a shower, and then start my day at the restaurant.
And then that would be making sure everything was going well, all the meats Nicely seasoned and prepared and all that kind of stuff, basically. Yeah, but I would end my day, we would, I would close together with my chefs, and that would be about 10 p. m. by then, and then that cycle repeats all the way throughout the week.
Have you ever
Nicholas: had thoughts of, this is just too much to handle?
Davis Ng: Not really until the, until, to, towards the, nearing to the fight. You always get, you know, you grow more and more, um, tired and more and more, how do I say, like the, your mind plays with you. Like basically when you cut your weight and all that kind of stuff, your body gets more tired.
The fight and the promotional things that you have to do for the fight. Takes a toll on you on top of like thinking of the restaurant and everything. It’s definitely a struggle by then. Yeah, definitely.
Nicholas: How often do you plan on fighting again in the future?
Davis Ng: Okay. So I just got the title. I, like my parents were, they are not really, they don’t want to watch me fight anymore.
For now I am considering taking a short hiatus for a while. So I wouldn’t, I’m not planning to fight anytime soon. The, how do I say? I have to, I’m planning to open up another concept, another American concept. And we are still in plans for that.
Nicholas: Wow. That’s exciting. But while you’re taking a hiatus, are you still training or are you just completely taking a break?
Davis Ng: I will be, I’ll be just working out in the gym with my, with my current partner. And then we will just try to keep up better. more stable health for me because all the weight cuts and all the damage has built up over the years. So I just want to take a more relaxed, uh, approach to life now. Yeah. So I’m not going to fight in time soon.
Nicholas: Do you think you’ll miss it?
Davis Ng: Oh yeah, definitely. I was still, it’s not a full retirement, but if the time is right, and it’s like, My finances are correct. Then maybe I would come off retiring to fight again, but I definitely miss it.
Nicholas: What is the part about boxing that you
Davis Ng: love the most? I would say it’s the showmanship and feeling everyone has your back and that supports you like the glory, I would say the glory of winning one for Singapore and your family and the gym.
I think that’s the most important, but that’s the most, the part that I miss Having my gym, being close to them, and being close to my coach, that relationship, definitely I will miss.
Nicholas: But to, to get to that feeling of, of being proud of yourself and, and having made everyone proud of you, it also means there’s a lot of pressure before you know the outcome.
How did you used to deal with that?
Davis Ng: I think after quite a long time of fighting, you just get, you definitely feel the pressure, yeah. You feel the stress of not, not wanting to lose. Bye. You know that if you lose, it’s not the end of the world. No one’s gonna despise you for losing. No one’s gonna hate you for it.
Your family’s gonna be there. Your gym’s gonna be there. You just gotta be better. So it’s not the end of the world for losing and all that kind. So the stresses and everything is there. You learn to live with it. End of the day.
Nicholas: Yeah. Yeah, that’s good advice, but I think it takes a lot of fights to get there.
It takes a long time,
Davis Ng: yeah. Yeah, definitely. Uh, I, I brought the title just to show you. Let’s take a look. Here’s the title. Wow. That’s awesome. Yeah.
Nicholas: Congratulations.
Davis Ng: Thank you.
Nicholas: So, uh, Kimburi and Bacon King are going strong and you mentioned a new concept. I don’t know if you can share more about that, but longterm, what does success look like for you 10 years down the road?
Where would you like to be?
Davis Ng: 10 years down the road, I would, I really want to spread the culture of Southern American food and how they, how they, how they run their restaurants and the kind of alcohol that, the kind of cocktails and alcohol that they like. The food such as Louisiana, New Orleans food. I really want to spread that more because I think like, uh, Singaporeans idea of New Orleans cuisine is like.
Mostly like crawfish boils or seafood boils. So not much on gumbo and jambalayas or betufe and all that kind of stuff. So I really want to spread that more as well as Texan barbecue.
Nicholas: Yeah. I think it should be popular here, you know, with any rice dishes. People love pay, uh, I love a good gumbo. It’s so comforting and filling.
Yeah,
Davis Ng: I agree. So
Nicholas: any trip, any plans for trips back to the U S for you to experience more of it again?
Davis Ng: I would say maybe hopefully end of 2025. Yeah, we are planning, we are planning to go back to maybe Texas, Portland, Oregon, just to visit like my, my chef, one of my sous chef there, and then definitely Louisiana.
It’s my favorite place on earth.
Nicholas: Awesome. Awesome. Thanks so much again, Davis, for being here. Where can people find you? Where do they go if they want to try your food?
Davis Ng: They would go to Balestier Plaza, 400 Balestier Plaza, zero, unit number 01 41, Kemari BBQ. And you can find me there most of the time. I’ll be there.
Nicholas: And how about if they want to follow you on social?
Davis Ng: Social would be Davis the King, D A V I S the King. Yeah, and also Kemari BBQ and BaconKing. sg. KemariBBQ. sg and BaconKing. sg.
Nicholas: Okay, awesome. I’ll put the links in the show notes. I highly recommend everybody to try the, the amazing food. So thank you very much again, Davis, and uh, potential producer.
Thank you, Nicholas. Thank you for listening to Before We Get There with your host, Nicholas Braman. Please like and subscribe on YouTube and your favorite podcast platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. You can also find us on Twitter. On Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook at before we get there podcast, new episodes are released every Thursday morning.
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