KUALA LUMPUR: It will be a battle of the best as Malaysia’s very own burger joint, myBurgerLab set to launch its ‘Nasi Lemak Ayam Rendang’ burger this Friday.
The hype came after the release of the ‘Nasi Lemak Burger’ by McDonald’s in Singapore on July 13 to celebrate its National Day on August 9.
Answering to calls, or specifically, Facebook tags’ from their fans who were very much triggered, myBurgerLab came up with the idea of incorporating all the items found in a nasi lemak to a burger, albeit with a twist.
On July 28, myBurgerLab announced via their Twitter account of the launch with a witty caption, “You know we mean business when we bring out the flag”, with hashtags of #nextweek #staytuned #MalaysianPride #NasiLemakAyamRendangBurger.
“We actually had a burger battle among our staff a few years ago and one came up with the nasi lemak burger idea. We thought it would be boring since we already have the real deal, which is the nasi lemak itself.
“But when McDonald’s Singapore came up with the special edition burger in conjunction with their National Day, we were very much intrigued,” said the local burger joint’s co-founder Chin Ren Yi when contacted by New Straits Times.
Chin said fans of their burger joint began to tag them on Facebook and they decided to take up the challenge due to popular demand (or in Chi’s words, “tagged to death”) from their fans.
The ‘Nasi Lemak Ayam Rendang’ will have a Thai style fried chicken as the burger patty, sambal, peanut butter (to replace peanuts), pickles (to replace cucumber), sunny side up egg (telur mata kerbau), rendang sauce and chopped ikan bilis along with myBurgerLab’s signature charcoal bun.
“The initial idea did not have the rendang sauce included. So, when we tried the burger, we knew something important was missing which was the coconut element. That’s when we included the rendang sauce and it tasted perfect for a nasi lemak-inspired burger,” said Chin.
The much awaited burger will be launched this Friday. However, only a limited number of burgers would be prepared; 100 burgers per outlets across myBurgerLab’s four outlets (Seapark, OUG, Sunway and Cyberjaya).
“We are not afraid of large crowds as we are used to it. It’s all about managing expectations and we are prepared for it,” he said.
For time being, he said the burger will only be on the menu till August 31, but they are ready to put it on the menu permanently if there is demand; similar to one of their best sellers, the Ultraman (salted egg yolk flavoured burger).
The burger joint also threw shade at online trolls who had criticised them for “copying” McDonald’s Singapore’s Nasi Lemak burger.
They uploaded a picture of a “Salt-Bae burger” with captions of, “Fresh out of the oven. Doesn't get saltier than this! SALTBAE burger! A WORLD FIRST”.
Responding to that, Chin said, it was all done in good fun and they did not expect a reaction from the Singaporeans.
“It is a humbling experience, receiving all the reactions. But we are not going to say no to free publicity,” he said, adding that both Malaysia and Singapore will always enjoy a friendly rivalry over food.