Immediately after stepping into Mamahuhu, it’s clear that this Chinese American restaurant is ahead of its time in flavor and design. Located in Town and Country Palo Alto, the restaurant is decorated with beautiful drawings of traditional Chinese architecture, modern jade light fixtures and colorful yellow chairs to create an inviting but casual setting.

Business entrepreneurs Anmao Sun, Ben Moore and Michelin-starred chef Brandon Jew are the three visionaries behind the restaurant.

Jew is the co-owner and executive chef of Mister Jiu’s, a Chinese American restaurant located in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Before Sun and Moore started Mamahuhu, they worked in Shanghai, collaborating on a farm-to-table grocery store that focused on transparency when sourcing their products.

“For the three of us, … Ben and Brandon and I, we always grew up eating this stuff,” Sun said. “[We] all landed around the importance of using really thoughtful ingredients, ingredients that are organic, that are made with people that you know, and we kind of craved seeing that ethos being used in this cuisine.”

Sun said the inspiration for a Chinese American restaurant sprouted from the initial amalgamation of the two cultures.

“Chinese American food is the specific cuisine that we’re focused on, and it’s very different from quintessential ‘authentic Chinese food,’” Sun said. “It’s a cuisine that very much was started by the immigrants that came here over the century and adapted cooking styles and adapted Chinese techniques to American palates.”

When you think of Chinese American food, you probably picture a delicious but oily dish. That’s why when outlining the vision for Mamahuhu, the founders wanted to emphasize the use of fresh and ethically sourced ingredients that highlight the stories behind the meals.

“It was never a question of, ‘what should the menu be?’” Sun said. “In terms of cuisine, it was more about, out of this really rich history and this canon of food with all these dishes that people know, … taking that and focusing on the ingredients.”

One way they try to highlight the ingredients is by flipping the traditional name of “beef and broccoli” to “broccoli and beef” to emphasize the quality of their vegetables, not just meat.

“We use dino kale and we use different kinds of brassicas, not just broccoli, and over time we found that people actually really resonated with that,” Sun said.   

Mamahuhu also underscores its use of vegetables by creating vegetarian counterparts of its meat dishes.

“We decided from the beginning we want to be very vegetable-forward, just because we feel like it’s the way that we like to eat, and we find that a lot of folks appreciate that,” Sun said. “Over time, it naturally evolved to focusing on making vegetables, not like the afterthought, but a kind of partner in the dishes.”

For a restaurant that puts so much thought into their products, their name sounds contradictory. The proverb “mamahuhu (马马虎虎)”  directly translates to “horse horse tiger tiger” in Chinese. However, the more colloquial translation is “so-so.”

“We try to have fun with it, not take it too seriously, not take ourselves too seriously,” Sun said. “But we take the craft very seriously.”

This theme is seen in their logo, which features a drawing of duck feet underwater.

The playfulness of this art hides the deeper meaning.

“When you look at a duck on a pond, under a lake, they’re really calm and they’re really serene,” Sun said. “It’s beautiful and calming, but underneath, they’re paddling like crazy, and they’re working really hard. You just don’t really see it.”

Hidden details like the background story behind the logo breathe life into Mamahuhu.

“They’re [Mamahuhu workers] just presenting themselves in a way where it’s putting the best foot forward, and so that’s kind of how we think about ourselves,” Sun said. “A lot of stuff that we do, we’re paddling like crazy, but what we like to put forward is kind of the calmness and a place where we even show up as your best self.”

In the future, Sun has ambitious plans to bolster their Town and Country branch by increasing catering orders and expanding beyond the current four locations of Inner Richmond, Noe Valley, Mill Valley and Palo Alto.

“We are interested in continuing to build and grow in the Bay Area,” Sun said. “We continue to look at new locations. We are going to try to cater things to you [students] as much as we can.”  

Tomato Garlic Chow Mein ($15) 

Cooked to a soft, chewy texture, every noodle is soaked with a delicious mushroom and tomato gravy. Slightly charred cherry tomatoes add to the sweetness of the dish, balancing the rich garlic flavor. Hidden within the woven noodles are small pieces of fried tofu that melt in your mouth. Together, the al dente noodles, juiceness from the tomatoes and softness of the tofu make this dish a hearty and filling meal.

Sweet and Sour Chicken ($18)

This dish features fried chicken bites doused in sweet and sour sauce, tossed with charred onions and bell peppers. With each bite, the moist chicken bursts in your mouth, and the use of fresh ingredients shines through as the onions were noticeably more flavorful and thick. We felt the dish was overpoweringly sweet at times, and recommend you order a side of rice to accompany the dish.

The Rice Plate ($16) 

Coated in the same sauce as the sweet and sour chicken, this dish is a meat-free alternative composed of crispy battered cauliflower. We favored this this vegetarian option over the meat choices. The cauliflower naturally releases water during the frying process, making it less crunchy compared to its chicken alternative, according to Palo Alto general manager Ariel Mahon. However, chefs drench the vegetables in cornstarch before cooking to help with the crunchiness. All rice plates at Mamahuhu come with your choice of any house special, served with a scoop of jasmine rice and crunchy cucumbers drizzled in sesame sauce. For us, the jasmine rice was quite dry while we were hoping for fluffy and slightly sticky rice.

Chop Suey Sundae ($7) 

​​Mamahuhu takes their own spin on a classic ice cream sundae with a banana oat milk dessert. All soft serve options, except the Malted Milk, are non-dairy. The sweetness from the banana adds a strong fruit flavor to the dessert, which is an unexpected twist to a normal sundae. Topped with candied nuts and malted milk powder, the Chop Suey Sundae is the perfect way to add a touch of sweetness after a fresh and savory meal.