[Borrowed Goods]

An Ever-Evolving, Asian-American Food Thingy by Diane & Willet Feng of burger-chan

Answer to, "What is Borrowed Goods"? (March 2026)

Borrowed Goods began as a concept we kept on standby. After partnering with a restaurant group to operate burger-chan, we finally had the freedom to experiment with pop-ups and take creative risks. With no clear direction at first, we used old branding from a Singaporean project we once dreamed up—mostly because we loved the name and logo.
As we grew, we realized we didn’t want to be limited to Singaporean cuisine. The name Borrowed Goods still feels fitting: Chef Willet believes that all recipes are borrowed—nothing is truly original. Inspiration comes from a memorable meal, a great trip, or a find in a recipe book. You tweak it, make it your own, but at its core, it’s borrowed. It perfectly reflects what we do: a chef and his wife creating experiences that are flavorful, thoughtful, and grounded in Asian influences.

For those already familiar with our dinner pop-up series, anti burger club, this is essentially an extension of what chef Willet started there. The main difference is that anti burger club takes place at burger-chan (hence anti-burgers), whereas Borrowed Goods will pop up and grow outside of burger-chan, with the eventual goal of becoming something more permanent.
Very few things are actually new. The name Borrowed Goods is a reference to Singaporean cuisine, which borrows from many influences - Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, Indonesian, Peranakan, and Western. Chef Willet was fortunate to have spent a couple of his formative years there, and he's been passionate about those flavors ever since. This concept will highlight Southeast Asian flavors while also borrowing from some flavors that chef knows and loves (i.e. Japanese). Some of Willet's dishes might seem or taste new ... but it's probably mostly borrowed.

Dishes from the Plume Kitchen Takeover on March 25, 2025. Photos by Jordan Nguyen of Medici Social.

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