Since its arrival ion Mill Valley in 2022, Mamahuhu, Michelin-starred chef Brandon Jew’s more casual restaurant and his first move outside of San Francisco, has sought to engage the community in a variety of ways, from churning out deliciousness at the 2022 Mill Valley Music Festival and launching a book club with support from the venerable Mill Valley Public Library.
Now they’re hosting a fun community event – free and open to all – this Sunday, Jan. 22 from 11am-1pm to celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year. Local floral artist Tyson Lee is making a LNY-themed arrangement and we’re inviting people to come for a relaxed morning of still-life drawing – BYO art supplies.
Since it opened in September 2022, Mamahuhu has been serving up delicious Chinese-American food in Mill Valley natives Justin and Tyler Catalana’s former Mill Valley Beerworks space at 173 Throckmorton Ave.
The first Mamahuhu opened on Clement Street in January 2020; both are collaborations with Anmao Sun and Ben Moore, who opened Shanghai’s first seed-to-table restaurant Hunter Gatherer but are now San Francisco-based. The menu is crisp and brief, a departure from your typical Chinese takeout restaurant. Five protein combinations are made from scratch with “transparently raised animals” and are served with jasmine rice and organically grown “wok’d vegetables” which form the core of each dish.
According to the Marin IJ, a sweet and sour spicy chicken sandwich with shredded cabbage and pineapple hot sauce on a house-made pineapple bun makes it on the menu, as do a few sides including a chrysanthemum and cauliflower salad, minced beef and tofu soup, crispy egg rolls, tomato garlic chow mein and Niman Ranch pork fried rice with wild caught shrimp.
The Mill Valley opening coincided with Mamahuhu’s introduction of boba tea soft serve made with banana oat milk, Ceylan tea syrup, tapioca pearls and sesame crunch. Moore says that the restaurant’s exclusive tap and canned beer selection from Fort Point Beer Co. pays a small homage to the legacy of Mill Valley Beerworks where the brewery got its start in 2009. “We love their brand and their beer,” Moore shares.
There’s also a rotation of wine, cider and hot teas and two house-made sodas on tap — snow jasmine and red tea cola.
After an early week pause, Mamahuhu is open from 11:30am-9:30pm. at 173 Throckmorton Ave.