KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 — Bean sprouts or taugeh: many have a love or hate relationship with it, until there's even a Facebook page known as the Persatuan Tak Makan Tauge Satu Malaysia.

This Chinese New Year, myBurgerLab is launching their Taukeh Ipoh burger... for taugeh lovers. You have a crispy fried chicken thigh, dipped in their new General Tso Sauce. It's then placed on a bed of teppanyaki-style stir fried taugeh and vegetables. For the final flourish, it gets some tangy mayonnaise and sesame oil. Enjoy it sandwiched between their signature fluffy bamboo charcoal buns.

For those who hate taugeh, there's the Taukeh Tso Burger. The same elements like the crispy fried chicken thigh dressed up with their General Tso sauce, tangy mayonnaise, sesame oil and bamboo charcoal buns remain. The difference is the switch to shredded lettuce and a juicy pineapple slice. It's just as tasty but not as racy as the Taukeh Ipoh burger with its unique taugeh pairing.

With a teaser of a tagline #BelumCubaBelumTau(geh), you will be tempted to try the Taukeh Ipoh and Taukeh Tso Burger, which will be available for RM18.88 at all myBurgerLab outlets from today till February 29. Limited portions of Taukeh Ipoh are available daily.

You may think, "Taugeh, nope" but it's a burger that has converted taugeh haters too including myBurgerLab's co-founder Renyi Lim who has a complicated relationship with taugeh.

What started as a joke when myBurgerLab posted an image of a burger with a mountain of taugeh on January 16 is now a real life burger. Renyi explained, "We literally asked ChatGPT what burger would trigger Malaysians most."

It definitely did the job. Netizens were provoked. Comments posted for both sides. It was an all-taugeh war of words.

Renyi explained, "It's been a hate-hate relationship for the longest time. As a kid, I have always avoided greens due to what I assumed is the chlorophyll taste and that included taugeh due to its weird look and shape."

In his later years, things changed a little for Renyi.

"As I grew older, I became accustomed to cooked taugeh in dishes, but if I am not too lazy, I will pick it out. Raw taugeh is no-no. Yes, I am a man child."

Throughout his life, Renyi would avoid taugeh in many ways.

"This is a weird one. I actually like the soy sauce that comes with the taugeh served with chicken rice. Just the taugeh flavoured soy sauce! I like to soak my chicken rice with that particular soy sauce sans taugeh."

And it doesn't just stop at taugeh, coriander lovers can also get their fix from the existing Budu Budu Burger.

An image generated by ChatGPT showed an abundance of coriander sandwiched between myBurgerLab's signature bamboo charcoal buns on January 16. While the burger doesn't come with that much coriander, myBurgerLab has offered customers a chance to request additional coriander.

You may also be surprised to learn that myBurgerLab is not the kind of place to open up a bottle of imported gherkins for use in their burgers.

Renyi explained, "We have always had the ethos of using local ingredients, both protein and greens since day one. We don't use imported pickles and make our own using local cucumber pickled in cili padi vinegar".

For further details, follow myBurgerLab's Facebook page @myBurgerLab., their website: http://myburgerlab.com/ or Instagram: @myburgerlab

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