A Taste of Chinoy Nostalgia: ChinaMommy launches new offers

Update (Jan 31, 2023): China Mommy is staying at The Grid Food Market for food! Check them out at Stall 16, The Grid Food Market, Level 2, Power Plant Mall in Makati City.

Her name is Linda Tan Co, but foodies know and love her as China Mommy.

After volunteering as the head cook for the Ocean Sky Buddhist Monastery in Quezon City, Auntie Linda and her family decided to give the public a taste of their home in 2016. According to her children, the current menu offered by their online store features their childhood favorites.

Today, the curated menu of China Mommy offers a mix of Taiwanese and Hokkien-style fare that has captivated the Internet and beyond. China Mommy continues to be on top of lists when it comes to party trays and Chinese cuisines in the metro.

WHY CRABS?

Auntie Linda mastered the art of cooking crabs because of love. Her husband Hamilton loves crabs and they would gather every Sunday for a crustacean feast at home. While most of us think of crabs as a treat for special occasions, her kids grew up with crabs as a normal part of their weekly menu. And now, it’s her crab dishes that put her on the map.

“We grew up having a meat/fish dish, vegetable dish, soup, and rice for every meal. We thought this was normal for everyone. But we learned recently that not all households cook soups, especially the traditional and herbal ones at home. So we decided to make the usual soups that mom cooks at home, available for everyone to try,” China Mommy's youngest son, Oliver, shared with The Garlic Press.

Available in half (two whole crabs) and whole (four whole crabs totaling at least three kilos) trays, the blue crabs are huge, meaty, and absolutely fresh. They’re delivered fresh every morning and cooked the same day. While it is on the pricey side, it’s definitely worth every morsel. Fair warning, though: It’s the inevitable downfall of those who are trying to avoid rice.

Aside from her her signature Crabs in Curry Sauce, Sotanghon Crabs, and XO Crabs, her best-sellers include her Special Chinese Lumpia (which could rival any Binondo stall), Fortune Bags (tofu skin stuffed with minced pork, shrimp, mushrooms), and the traditional Cha Misua (a.k.a. Birthday Misua topped generously with shredded pork and chicken breast, mushrooms, hibe (small shrimp), and sprinkled with spring onions, slivers of scrambled eggs, and roasted peanuts). Auntie Linda herself loves her Salted Fried Crabs, which lets the natural flavors of the crab shine through.

During the holidays, people also line up (online) to reserve an order or two of her coveted Homemade Ham. On regular days, her homemade Chinese Longganisa should be a staple in your fridge.

CHINAMOMMY’S NEW KITCHEN

“Long story short, we didn’t have enough space in our house for the current demand,” Oliver shared. “We also couldn’t offer more items with limited space and staff, so we felt like we had to move on.”

Their new, bigger commissary is located in San Juan City (200 M. Paterno Street) with “more space to cook new items and parking space for clients picking up.”

But finding new space, especially during the pandemic, didn’t come without its challenges.

“Finding a suitable place, constructing, and finally moving — all during the pandemic — was very stressful for us, because we had to continue running the business, while preparing to move to a new location. There was a time last year where we had viewings on a daily basis! Mom feels very proud of the move and when we look at our empty kitchen at home, we are in shock of the amount of food we cooked there given such a relatively small space,” Oliver recalled.

Now that they have more room for deliciousness, Oliver shared that a pop-up stall isn’t too far in the future.

THEIR GROWING MENU

With a bigger commissary, China Mommy recently launched new additions to their well-curated menu of tried and tested dishes, usually heirloom recipes from their family. Some of the new offers came from her experience cooking vegetarian, Buddhist-approved food at the monastery.

Let’s start with the jarred vegetable hash: Obokdi and Taopao. Obokdi is a mix of chopped tofu skin, tofu, black fungus (Obokdi), and pickled vegetables, while the Taopao (available in regular and spicy) uses vegan meat instead of black fungus. It goes well with steamed rice, noodles, congee, or on its own. Highly recommending trying spicy taopao in lettuce wraps!

Then there’s Maki Mi, a hearty soup filled with pork tenderloin meatballs and chewy egg noodles. You can also have it without noodles (just called ‘Maki’). The soup is thick with a subtle flavor, while the meatballs are incredibly tender and slightly salty. While it can be filling on its own, it’s best to enjoy it with something with robust flavors, like China Mommy’s Special Lumpia or Fried Salted Crabs.

“Sometimes, things we take for granted because they’re so readily available, we just realize, ‘Why don’t we offer this and see if people like it?’ This was the case for our Special Chinese Lumpia and Maki/Maki Mi. We seriously thought everyone can cook them at home, and they’re available in Chinese fast food restaurants, so why would people still order from us? But we realized that people appreciate the way mom keeps her cooking traditional, and that she doesn’t scrimp on ingredients.”

This rainy season is also made better with a warm tub of Fish Maw Soup, a super rich and almost creamy chicken broth with a whole native chicken (broken down into pieces, of course), Chilean abalone, and fish maw. The simplicity of the dish allows the ingredients to really stand out, like the super clean taste of the abalone and the fall-off-the-bone chicken. Every sip of that warm broth felt like a warm hug. If you have any leftover soup, I highly recommend you enjoy it as “sabaw” with anything fried.

I’m not sure if Hong Shao Kao Fu is a permanent part of the menu, but it’s also something new I tried from China Mommy. It’s braised wheat gluten with wood ear mushrooms and carrots. The dish is rich in umami and I enjoyed the springy texture and the slightly sweet-salty flavor.

Inspired by the famous Ay Tsung Misua from Taipei, China Mommy created Twa Tung Misua or Pig Intestine Misua. The misua soup is flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, bay leaves, and black pepper. They import the pig intestines to ensure the best quality.

Oliver shared, “[Sometimes], we really ask her [mom] to try something new. Like the Twa Tung Misua. We enjoyed it in our trip in April 2019, and we asked her to recreate it. We loved it so much and decided to offer it… Also, mom has very strong ties to Taiwan. Half of her siblings live there and she would always attend a yearly pilgrimage [at] her temple there. So if you notice, a lot of our dishes are also Taiwanese, [like] Lo Ba and Taiwan Misua.”

RUNNING A FAMILY BUSINESS

While some people say do not enter into a business with family members, the Co Family was able to make it work — and work well — since 2016.

“While it’s nice seeing everyone working together, and achieving something together, it can also be very chaotic at times,” shared Oliver, who was in charge of marketing the business. “You definitely get to see the different personalities coming out and sometimes they clash… Something that worked for us is to set clear division of work, and clear goals for everyone. If there’s any conflict, always look back to what is aligned most to our goals.”

Working well together has allowed China Mommy to become the beloved food brand it is today. Despite the challenges of running a family business, they still find joy in seeing their mom fulfilled.

“The most challenging part is that most of us in our family still have businesses and day jobs to deal with. It’s really just mom working on China Mommy full-time. She takes care of the kitchen and the cooking. But as the demand increases, the other aspects — the operations, purchasing, accounting, finance — all become more complicated and we all have to juggle them outside our day jobs,” Oliver explains.

“The great thing about it is: we all find joy in the work that comes with China Mommy. It gives us a special kind of fulfillment that this genuinely makes our mom happy, and that we are contributing to preserving traditional recipes and food traditions. Feedback from clients really boost our morale, especially mom’s, and makes everything worth it,” he shared. “It’s really the fulfillment of seeing my mom happy. Also, because of China Mommy, I get to spend more time with her and have deeper conversations about the past, her dreams.”

They also love “conversing with clients who really enjoyed our food and them sharing their memories related to Filipino-Chinese food.”

“It reinforces our mission of ‘preserving the Filipino Chinese food tradition’. It makes us feel we’re contributing to the history of the Fil-Chis."

To view their complete menu, visit www.chinamommy.ph. For orders, contact +63 917 514 8540 via Viber from Tuesday to Sunday.