This year, to celebrate myBurgerLab’s 7th anniversary, the Malaysian burger joint has collaborated with popular doughnut brand Krispy Kreme to bring Malaysians two versions of a doughnut burger hybrid, The Fowl Word and The King.
The Fowl Word consists of a cheddar fried chicken thigh topped with umami mushroom gravy, maple syrup and myBurgerLab’s signature Red Sauce all sandwiched between two generously-glazed Original Glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It costs RM22 a la carte.
On the other hand, The King, which also has had its buns replaced by Original Glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts, has a cheddar seared beef patty slathered with rich creamy peanut butter, sweet blueberry jam and some of the restaurant’s secret X-sauce.
myBurgerLab describes it as being reminiscent of their Jammin’ with Elvis Burger but with a Krispy Kreme twist. The King costs RM24 a la carte.
These burgers sound like they’d taste good in theory, especially since our palates have grown over the years to accommodate the marriage of sweet and savoury through food combinations like maple syrup bacon and fried chicken and waffles.
The only way to tell if the doughnut burgers taste as good as they sound is to actually eat them, so my colleagues and I jumped on the opportunity to try them. After sending off our orders to the kitchen, myBurgerLab handed us three waivers to sign as we had ordered two of The King and one of The Fowl Word.
The waivers are designed to look “official” and serious but were more for fun than anything else, and simply informed patrons that the doughnut burgers were definitely far from diabetic-friendly.
You can sign your name and date on the waiver to acknowledge its warning, though the staff don’t ask for you to return it after. I’ll admit it, I underestimated how true the waiver’s warning was because despite signing it, I wasn’t prepared for the burgers at all.
Heed The Warning
Upon first glance, the burgers looked delectable with juices still running from the freshly-cooked meat, nestled in between glistening glazed doughnuts. They smelled as good as they looked as there was no blue cheese and wasabi or petai and sambal involved this time.
We first tackled the beef burger, The King. As we divided it into several pieces with a butter knife, our fingers immediately poked holes (not just dents) in the doughnuts, a testimony to how fluffy they were.
The first flavour that registers upon biting into the burger is an overwhelming sweetness, followed by the strong peanut butter flavour which was also rather sweet. Together they drowned out most, if not all, of the flavour of the beef patty, the crispy cheddar and X-sauce. As I chewed, the gooey texture of the peanut butter also dragged along the insides of my mouth almost unpleasantly.
Our main gripe was definitely about how out of place the peanut butter seemed in The King. Perhaps in a burger that was more savoury than sweet, it would have worked out better. In a nutshell, The King was just too sweet due to the doughnuts, peanut butter and blueberry jam all carrying a significant amount of sugar each. None of us were really fans of it.
The Fowl Word was a tad more savoury, thanks to the umami mushroom gravy which made the flavours more balanced. The maple syrup wasn’t too thick either, complementing the saltiness of the fried cheddar chicken thigh nicely. The Red Sauce was barely detectable, however.
If you prefer something less sweet, you should pick The Fowl Word over The King. While the sweetness of the doughnuts still overpowered a majority of its other flavours (as it’s the first thing that hits your tongue), the overall texture of this chicken doughnut burger was also a lot more palatable than the beef one.
Doughnut Underestimate Its Sweetness
Here’s the main takeaway: the waivers weren’t lying—they’re extremely sweet. My Coke tasted worse than water after. Personally, I’m of the opinion that doughnuts and burgers don’t mix, and I would have much preferred to take apart the burgers and leave the doughnuts for dessert.
The doughnut burgers fall apart quite easily as they’re not meant to be cut up, but they’re definitely an experience meant to be shared. We all agreed that attempting to finish one of the burgers alone would be quite a feat that we’re not sure should be applauded.
If you’re sweet-toothed and an adventurous or experimental eater, you might just be the target customer for the burgers. If not, they’re still worth a try just for the experience.
Overall, my colleagues agreed that The Fowl Word tasted a lot better than The King in flavour and texture, despite most of us being more excited for the latter in the beginning.
If our experience with the burgers has caught your attention and you’re thinking to yourself, “How sweet could a doughnut burger really be?”, you can try both burgers at any myBurgerLab starting from 16 September for a limited time only.
In the spirit of charity, RM10 will also be given to Shelter Home For Children with every doughnut burger sold from the launch day onwards.
myBurgerLab
Address: 3, Jalan PJS 11/9, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Website: myBurgerLab
