It goes without saying that the many restrictions restaurants have been subject to over the last year have been detrimental to business. One day a kitchen is dishing out exquisite morsels of multi-component dishes for well over $100 per head, the next it’s doling out rice bowls and sandwiches to get through the dining-in ban.

“With every shutdown, business has gotten worse and worse,” says veteran restaurateur Mervin Goh, who owns the Akashi group of Japanese restaurants which has been in business for over 25 years. Last month, Mervin found himself peddling burgers rather than sushi in a bid to keep his staff occupied and paid.

“During the first Phase2HA (in May), our Paragon outlet brought in just a few hundred dollars of sales per day. We have another outlet at Orchard Rendezvous Hotel, which is nearby so it didn’t make sense to do delivery from two kitchens,” he explains. “That’s when we started thinking about selling something different from our Paragon kitchen.”

With additional reporting from Florence Fong.

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The team thought about serving singular Japanese dishes like donabe, but Mervin kept returning to the idea of selling burgers since he had some experience in that realm. In 2010, he brought in casual Japanese burger chain Freshness Burger, which eventually folded in 2013. “The timing wasn’t great and we didn’t know the business well enough. During that time, people said our $4 burger was expensive because they were comparing it to McDonald’s. Things are different now and having that experience has given us an easier start today,” he says.

While mulling the idea, the second Heightened Alert was announced in late July and restaurants found themselves forced to close yet again. “So we just went ahead with burgers,” he says simply. “We don’t have high expectations. We’re not trying to make the best burgers in town. We just want to make good burgers that people can support. The initial reviews were very encouraging and it’s kept us going since.”

“Most importantly, these burgers brought in sales so that we could cover our staff salaries and they didn’t have to take a pay cut while we were forced to close. That’s really the main reason why we started doing this,” he emphasises.

Mervin’s team assembled a collection of burgers and set up a delivery platform on Oddle. “We needed a name and the first that came to mind was Golden Brown,” he recalls. If it sounds familiar, it’s because Golden Brown is the name of a popular burger chain in Japan. “It’s one of my favourite burgers,” admits Mervin, “and the name just came out of my mouth when my staff asked what I wanted to call it.” And so Golden Brown it was.

Although restaurants are now allowed to open again, Mervin is keeping Golden Brown both as a delivery option and for dining in at Akashi’s Paragon branch between 2.30pm and 5pm daily. “People who’ve heard of our burgers but haven’t tried them asked us if we are still doing it, so that’s one of the reasons why we’re continuing. It’s also good to keep it going if we find ourselves in a heightened alert situation again. By carrying on, people will remember the brand if that happens again.”

While response to Golden Brown’s dining in option has not been strong, it still sees a healthy number of takeaway orders each week. “When we first started in late July, we sold about 80 burgers a day. Now we sell about (an average of) 50 burgers per day.

“Dining in has been slow to pick up (after this round of heightened alert),” he continues, “so this helps.”

Golden Brown’s menu comprises 10 burgers and a couple of sides and salads. Most of these burgers feature patties made from Australian barley-fed beef, a sweet Japanese-style house-made pickle, and caramelised Japanese onion katsu sauce between brioche buns. All come with a side of comforting beef broth.

Why beef broth? “To me, even the best French fries are not good enough after they are taken away. They turn soggy. So I thought, why not provide a side of soup instead to give it a stronger Japanese identity? I think it’s a refreshing idea. The broth is made with trimmings from the beef patties and sweetened with vegetables,” he adds.

The sweet-salty katsu sauce, meanwhile, is something Akashi has been serving in its wagyu sando (sandwiches) for a while now. “It’s always received good feedback, so why not use it in our burgers? We know people like it and it adds to our burgers’ Japanese identity.

“In all honesty, this whole thing came together so quickly. It’s a blessing that all the building blocks were already in place. We just had to put it together and it has seen us through a tough time.”

Essentially the same burgers, but double the patties if you’re so inclined (get the double). The smoky patties have a nice char around the edges and are cooked to medium-well doneness, with lots of meaty flavour. While the beef is nothing fancy, Mervin employs a clever trick of mixing minced Aussie chuck roll and strip loin with a 15 percent ratio of wagyu fat to keep things unctuous. It’s pan-seared till almost cooked, then slapped on a binchotan charcoal grill to finish. This results in the beef tasting richer and more premium than it actually is, with a smoky perfume.

The melty slice of American cheese is a good foil to the bed of pickled vegetables, which is like a sweet slaw. The brioche buns, which they buy from a supplier, are nice and squishy and hold up well to the succulent fillings between them. The beef broth, meanwhile, is just a little more full-bodied than a light miso soup. It ain’t French fries, but it does help the burgers go down a little smoother.

The mention of sukiyaki conjures the sweet flavour of sukiyaki sauce for us, so we are surprised that the oniony gravy in this burger isn’t cloyingly sweet. In fact, the flavour is pretty balanced, with just a hint of sweetness alluding to the burger’s name. The fried egg squirreled above the burger patty is a nice touch, though the egg yolk is slightly overcooked.

They do not stinge on the prawns in this burger. The juicy patty, packed with minced shellfish, is thick and boldly seasoned, with a crisp batter that withstood the journey to us extremely well. The pickles provide a great, fresh contrast to this burger, too.

A surprisingly shiok chicken burger starring a lightly floured meaty fillet that’s pan-fried till crisp, then finished on the charcoal grill with lashings of sticky teriyaki sauce. Goes great with the fluffy bun and pickles.

Instead of a burger patty, this sandwich is filled with thick, generously marbled slices of A5 Satsuma beef. The unctuous fat yields tasty, tender beef. We practically feel every calorie of it. The sweet pickled veggies help to offset this richness. Rather lovely, but messy to eat and perhaps not quite worth the price if you’re getting this to go (it doesn’t taste as good via delivery vs the burger which holds up better).

Personally, we aren’t fans of carbs on carbs, so this was too heavy for us. But, if you love Japanese golden sweet potatoes, this should rock your boat. Imagine a thick, creamy and chunky sweet potato korokke (croquette), slicked with Japanese mayo between brioche buns.

We didn’t imagine we would like a sweet omelette burger much, but this one surprised us. The generously thick and tasty omelette has the barest sweetness to it, which is counterpointed by a thick slathering of mayo and shredded nori. The latter gives it creamy, umami oomph. Be warned this is polarising — our colleague who tried it found it too sweet.

Sweet, juicy wedges of persimmon, fresh cherry tomatoes, mesclun leaves and tender slivers of yakiniku dressed in sweet soy makes for a fantastic accompaniment to the burgers.

Lightly seasoned crispy fried chicken skin. They stay crisp after standing for over an hour, and we inhale it in no time even if some of us moan about it being rather under-seasoned.

To be honest, we didn’t expect much of the burgers from a local sushi chain. But to our delight, Golden Brown’s offerings are super appetising. They’re hearty, fairly succulent from the clever addition of wagyu fat to regular Aussie beef cuts, with a welcome element of bincho charcoal smoke and umami sweetness thanks to its light Japanese flourishes. They’re not terribly expensive either, for the quality you get. Definitely worth ordering for an indulgent weekend meal. We just hope there won’t be any copyright issues with the brand name should Akashi expand this line to go beyond mostly delivery-only, since it has taken the same moniker as Tokyo’s chain of burger joints.

For takeaway and delivery, visit https://goldenbrown.oddle.me/en_SG. For dine in, visit Akashi between 2.30pm-5pm, Mon-Sun at #B1-01/02 Paragon, 290 Orchard Rd. S238859. Tel: 6735 8887

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Photos: Florence Fong/Akashi