STEP into a pasar malam food hall this Ramadan season, and you'll be engulfed by the smell and smoke of sizzling meats.

You can't miss the reason for this smog: everywhere you turn, there are huge yellow banners with the fetchingly retro logo of Ramly Burger.

Ramly burgers, for the uninitiated, are Malaysia's answer to McDonald's. The only differences are that they're not sold in sterile outlets, but by itinerant roadside hawkers, and since they're slathered in butter while being fried, they're probably way more calorific than a Big Mac (hello, heartburn!).

The presentation is also unique: After being cooked, the Ramly patty is smothered in chilli, mayo and other sauces before being wrapped up in an omelette and slid between a sesame bun.

Greasy, juicy and an altogether guilty treat, they've become revered enough to inspire homages, like this catchy Ramly Burger song.

But the burger that gets served up to customers here isn't quite authentic.

Not the real McCoy, but still tasty to many.
ST Photo: Terence Tan

Ramly chicken and beef patties have been banned in Singapore for many years. Only the brand's fish patties are allowed in, as are its fish nuggets, prawn patties and mayonnaise .

The burger patties that the stallholders are flipping here are actually ordinary ones made by Singapore manufacturers, lacking Ramly's special mix of spices.

When I asked some Geylang Serai stallholders why they still advertised their burgers as Ramly burgers, given that the essential ingredient is not a Ramly product, most avoided giving me a direct answer.

After some hemming and hawing, one claimed that they still count as a Ramly burgers because they use other Ramly ingredients and the wrapper. Another claimed they pay to use the logo.

They have good reason to latch on to the brand. "Ramly's famous here, people recognise it," one stallholder said.

So does this mean they're guilty of false advertising? After all, if you're paying for a Ramly burger, then you should get a burger with an authentic Ramly patty, right?

I posed this question to a Malaysian colleague. He disagreed. "Ramly is a style," came his rather zen-like reply.

To him, the meat of the matter isn't actually the patty, but how it's made, with the folded omelette and sauces.

But surely it makes a difference, I pondered.

I've had an authentic Ramly burger only once - eight years ago, at that - so I roped in another Malaysian colleague to do a taste-test, figuring her childhood years of chomping on the lipsmacking treat should count for something.

She thoughtfully chewed on the Singaporean Ramly burger that I bought for her. "It's less tasty and fragrant than I remember," she mused.

The first Malaysian colleague felt also that the Singaporean Ramly has too many accoutrements. "It's completely doused in sauce. They don't let the patty speak for itself; it's surrounded by a horde of tomato, mayo, egg PRs and bodyguards," he said.

That, I felt, was the deal-breaker. I've decided to hold out until my next trip to Malaysia before I savour a Ramly burger again.

After all, an imposter Ramly burger is just not worth all those calories.

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