M’sian Bar Manager-Turned-Viral Star Admits Fame Has Made Him More Popular With The Ladies

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Stay Gold Flamingo, a cocktail bar on Amoy Street, may have been dimly lit when 8days.sg visited it earlier this month but there was no missing the glow from Linus Teng, the dashing bar manager from KL, who became an internet sensation in March for looking like Taiwanese star Greg Hsu

Or it could be the many cameras and flashlights aimed at him as he bounced from table to table chatting with guests.

The 26-year-old, who is the bar manager of popular KL café If Only, is now a legit celebrity. He is in Singapore to collaborate with Amos Kew, the head bartender of Stay Gold Flamingo, and Japanese craft gin Roku Gin, on a cocktail and food pairing menu.

While he looked totally at home basking in all the attention, he admits to 8days.sg that he’s still trying to get used to one thing.

"Working in the dark," he chuckles. 

Linus started part-timing in cafes — "All kinds of jobs, as a waiter, working in the kitchen," he says — when he was still a 16-year-old student. He became a barista because he found latte art "fascinating", and wanted to make coffee, and he got into the right after completing his International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), Malaysia's equivalent of our GCE O’Levels.  

It was only in the past three to four years that he got into bartending, and now regularly incorporates caffeine into his drinks.

Linus, however, says he’s not the best drinker. 

"I’m not the type who can be drink all night. When I first started making cocktails, I would do a lot of R&D, and halfway through I’m drunk already," he quips. 

His alcohol tolerance, however, has increased significantly since becoming a bartender.

"If I’m still okay to do this interview, it means it has improved. [In the past] I would be sleeping already," he laughs, adding that it would take about eight to nine glasses of gin for him to get sloshed now.

Linus' life changed in March when he flew to Hong Kong for a "three-day bar takeover" with Hong Kong coffee house Coffeelin.

The Hong Kong media took notice of him almost immediately, pointing out his striking resemblance to Greg Hsu. FYI: He still doesn't think he looks like the Taiwanese heartthrob. 

"On that day, everyone was taking videos so I was just casually making my cocktails. Then suddenly at the end of the shift, I saw my follower count going up non-stop," he recall.

Linus had about 7K followers on Instagram when he first landed in Hong Kong. By the time he returned to Malaysia, that number had grown to more than 40K. As of press time, he has 64K followers. 

He jokes that his friends told him his face kept appearing on their IG feed and they were "damn sian" of seeing it. 

There are now many tourists from other countries flocking to If Only to try Linus' drinks and hopefully snap a photo with him.

Linus recalls how a customer from Taiwan waited outside the cafe from 8am to 1pm just to ask for a photo before leaving for the airport.

Business has grown but Linus shyly refuses to take credit for it.

"Not significantly lah. Maybe got help a bit lah," he says. 

Would he be getting a raise then? "Wah I don’t know... Must ask my boss (laughs)."

He doesn't think his life is that different now. The biggest change, he feels, is how he gets recognised on the streets sometimes and that people would secretly snap photos of him.

"Some would come up to me and ask for pictures but some would just take videos from afar. They think I don’t know, but actually I know," he says with a smirk.

He admits that being known as Greg Hsu's lookalike has "in a way" made him popular with the ladies. When we ask if he has a girlfriend now, he immediately says "Got!" 

Turns out, she's here at the event too. During our chat, she enters the room to tell Linus that someone is looking for him and we ask if she's his better half.

"Yah yah yah," he happily chirps.

"She now has to follow me around lor," he adds. He says his girlfriend, whom he met four years ago before he joined If Only, is working for the cafe too, and handles marketing.

Fame aside, Linus acknowledges how he now gets a lot of opportunities to work with different bars and alcohol brands like Roku Gin.

"I’m fortunate that they bring me [out of Malaysia] for takeovers," he says. 

Believe it or not, this is Linus' first time in Singapore. 

How is that possible given how close we are to Malaysia?

"I’ve travelled to many countries but never to Singapore," says Linus. "I don't know why. There was no reason for me to come over. I come here and [it's the] same weather (laughs)."

Linus, who has to leave Singapore the day after, then laments how he has no time to some sightseeing. 

"I am here for work guys. Maybe tomorrow morning, I want to go to Marina Bay Sands," he says wistfully.