The first thing you notice at a Malaysian McDonald’s is that hamburgers are called beefburgers. At first, I didn’t know why, but eventually, it dawned on me. Malaysia is a predominately Muslim country (about 60%). Hamburgers are called beefburgers so there is no ambiguity that the sandwiches are not made with pork. As the A1 commercial used to say “what is hamburger? chopped ham? no, chopped steak!” You’ll never find any pork products at all in a McDonald’s in a Muslim country because the kitchen needs to be certified Halal. Every McDonald’s I visited in Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, or Penang had a Halal certification.
While Malaysia is mostly Muslim, it is not totally Muslim. It is a multicultural country with a very significant Chinese minority. Unfortunately, the favorite protein source of Chinese is pork (I’m currently reading a book on KFC in China. They have the demographics in there). You’d think that Chinese and Muslim dietary habits wouldn’t fit well together, but they each share a common taste for chicken. There were two unique items on the menu in Malaysia: Bubur Ayam and Ayam Goreng. Ayam, as you can probably figure out, is Malaysian for “chicken”. Ayam Goreng is just fried chicken. They offer a regular and spicy version, and the spicy version is almost orange from the spices. Bubur Ayam is chicken soup, or as they call it on the menu, chicken porridge. It really wasn’t that different from the chicken soup my grandma makes, just a tad bit spicier.
The other thing which I saw back in January was uniquely Chinese: the prosperity burger. I saw it in Hong Kong as well as Bali. It is sort of the Chinese New Year equivalent of the Shamrock Shake. I had it Bali and it was actually pretty good. It had a heavy taste of black pepper and it sort of oblong shaped, like the McRib, but because it’s Malaysia, made of beef.
Like what I saw at McDonald’s Fiji, McDonald’s Malaysia menu reflects the diversity of the country. There are just enough tweaks in the menu to make it uniquely Malaysian.
ramly burger is possibly THE best burger in malaysia!! :D
I really appreciate that mc donalds allows for local menue. in thailand there's maybe a hopper-burger:)
its the local burgers.. a brandname. check out the road stalls that sells burgers :)
and yes, we do have pork though its not openly sold in all supermarkets. but we can buy them in the pork section in the wet markets & some supermarkets.
You can get pork and they certainly serve it in Chinese restaurants. Its just that if they have it in the kitchen, they restaurant can’t be certified Halal, so you sort of eliminate a big chunk of the population as a customer base. Probably isn’t a good move for McDonald’s.
Are the Chinese inhabitants of Malaysia able to get pork for use in their own homes, or is Malaysia a pig-free zone?
What’s a ramly burger?
hey what a nice view on the country. including the prosperity burger haha.
oh btw, malaysians do love kfc as well. in fact, it always seem more crowded.
and while u are here, do try out the local ramly burger! :)
I love going to Mcdonald’s in other countries. It’s always interseting how they try to mix the their culture with the fast food culture. In the Philippines they server pancit and lumpia. Then there’s SPAM in Hawaii. I need to leave the US more.
I rarely eat McDonald’s here at home, but whenever I travel abroad I absolutely ‘must’ stop by the local McDonald’s just to see what it’s like. My favorite so far has actually been the ones in London because they had Cadbury Flake McShakes. Yummy milkshakes with a piece of Flake bar stuck in it.