How Mami Came To The Philippines

The popular 'mami' that we know today was said to be introduced by Ma Mon Luk, a well known Chinese chef from Guangzhou,China who emigrated to the Philippines specifically in Manila to find his fortune here. According to popular belief, Ma Mon Luk started by peddling chicken noodle soup in the streets of Manila. Among his frequent customers were students from various universities in Manila. A popular theory of the origin of the word "mami" is that "Ma" came from his name and "Mi" came from the Chinese word for "recipe"; thus "mami" stands for "the recipe of Mr. Ma. Soon however, Filipinos took the name as an amalgam of Tagalog words for chicken ("manok") and egg noodles ("miki").

Ma Mon Luk was able to establish his own restaurant, named after him, with siopao,siomai and mami noodles as their main attraction. In the 1950's, Ma Mon Luk and his mami became famous nationwide.

Ma Mon Luk's story is very inspiring, starting broke in the streets of Manila, he was able to turn his life around and become a famous chef and restaurant owner and made his mami business popular paving way for other entrepreneurs to follow his footsteps.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Mon_Luk)

Now Accepting Siomai Orders

If you want to order siomai from me. You can contact me through my mobile number at 09272800490 (Globe) or through email at siomaimami09@gmail.com,or simply post a comment here on one of my articles. You can also add me to your YM account,my YM ID is longbackers. Orders should be made 3 days before the date of delivery.

Pork siomai - P3.00
1 pack = 10pcs
Minimum order of 10 packs

For further details send me an email.

Starting a Siomai Business

Siomai is a dimsum of Chinese origin which is loved by many Filipinos. One can order different kinds of siomai but the base is always pork. The ground meat should have some fat otherwise the cooked siomai will be too tough. Prawns or shrimps can be substituted for part of the pork if desired.

Nowadays,siomai as become one of the favorite meriendas among Filipinos. You can see numerous siomai business stands in shopping malls,commercial districts,schools and other areas where foot traffic is high. You can serve it with fried rice,others would like to include siomai as a topping for hong kong style noodles. Some siomai businesses serve siomai either plainly steamed or deep fried.

One cannot enjoy eating siomai without the soy sauce,chili sauce and calamansi on the side and of course a cold glass of black gulaman or softdrinks.

If you want to engage in this kind of business, it is very crucial that you choose a location where there is high foot traffic and commercial space rent is affordable.
There are several franchising companies that offers siomai business but it is sometimes costly. However you can just start small,you can get funds from your own savings,borrow money from micro-lending companies or simply borrow money from friends or relatives.

In my case,I borrowed money from my aunt to start my own siomai business and incorporated it to my hot mami business to form a dynamic duo. Now I have just closed my first online deal with my former high school classmate. You don't need to rush things if you want to earn big bucks from siomai. It entails hard work and patience and of course substantial amount of funds to sustain your business.

If you want guaranteed income make sure you make your siomai delicious and affordable and surely,you will be able to establish your own set of customers and they will keep on coming back to you and acquire more new customers.

Increased Sale Last Saturday

Our hot mami was selling like hotcakes. Why? It was raining hard and streets were flooded in our area and a lot of motorists got stranded. To fill their hungry stomachs, they went to our food stall to buy hot mami noodles,lugaw,lumpia and other hot foods. Just before lunch time,all of our products were sold out. My mother had to rush to the nearby market to replenish our supply, and to prepare another sets of food to sell.
I just hope that everyday are rainy days,because when it rains it pours.

Foods That We Usually Serve in Our Menu

Mainstays are the following:

Beef Mami Noodles - P15.00 per bowl
Lugaw (plain) - P10.00 per bowl
Lugaw with cow intestines - P25.00 per bowl
Lumpiang gulay - P7.00 per piece

Other foods that are occasionally served are the following:

Ginataang halo-halo - P12.00 per order
Ginataang mais - P12.00 per order
Pancit canton/bihon - P15.00 per order
Spaghetti - P15.00 per order
Siomai - P5.00 per piece

I'm planning to include beef pares in our menu soon......

My small mami stall

Buti na lang yung pwesto naming mami stall malayo sa MMDA pink line kung hindi matagal na kami tsugi sa pwesto namin.
Our food stall is just made up of a table, 4 mono-block chairs. Katabi namin ang Arnold's Store na nasa ibaba ng bahay namin.
Our cooking equipment ay medyo primitive pa. Remember we just started on what we have and 600pesos. Dalawang de-uling na kalan, dalawang malaking kaldero, isa para sa sabaw ng mami (beef stock,made up of beef bulalo,onions,carrots, plus herbs and spices) at yung isa naman para lugaw.
The rest of the food(lumpiang gulay,fried tokwa,..etc) we sell are prepared and cooked in the kitchen upstairs.
We buy our ingredients from the Divisoria and Trabajo markets dahil mura dito lalo na pag madaling araw pa. I'm the one who goes to Divisoria at 12am to buy the ingredients for beef mami while my mother goes to Trabajo market to buy the rest at around 9am.
We usually open our mamihan at 2pm and close down at 10pm.
Before I forget our mamian is located at 254 AH Lacson Street Sampaloc,Manila.
Dumadami na kumakain dito sa amin kaya sana magtuloy-tuloy na to!

How I started to have my own mami business

The economic recession had hit hard our country today. Napakahirap ng buhay. Hirap maghanap ng trabaho. Three months ago, I decided to quit my job as an online English teacher in a Korean company. I said to myself, maybe I could do well in the call center industry.
So, I applied to several call centers here in Metro Manila but to no avail......lagi lang ako final interview. Once they ask me about my educational background, I would honestly tell them that I have not finished my degree and I have a number of back subjects during my first two years including ROTC. After the interview, they would just tell me to wait for their call. "Just wait for our call" is the dreaded line that applicants would like not to hear after an interview. Parang death sentence, they think that it's a nice way of telling an applicant that you are not qualified for the job.
So after three months after contemplating about what would I do in the future, I realized, why the hell should I apply in these so called BPO companies when I could start my own small business at home? Instead of traveling to and fro to the office, dealing with difficult co-workers or an arrogant boss, why not be my own boss instead?
So I called up my girlfriend, who fortunately knows the recipe for making tasty siomai, and I brought out from my 'treasure chest' the recipe of beef mami noodles. I also asked my mother to cook for me lumpiang gulay or spring rolls and lugaw, in English, congee.
When I was in the process for looking for jobs. My mother had already started her own business of selling squid balls, fish balls, kikiam and other streetfoods. She would earn at around 200-300 pesos a day just enough to provide us with three square meals and pocket money for me if ever I go out for a job interview.
I told my mother if we could sell beef mami and lugaw to expand our business and make more money. Fortunately our house is located in a place where there is high foot traffic, at madalas tambayan ng mga pedicab, jeep at taxi drivers.
With a starting capital of 600 pesos, imagine 600 pesos lang! We were able to generate 1200 pesos as our gross income on our first day. The following day we increased our operating capital. The bigger the operating capital, the larger the net profit....until it came to a point when our net profit is bigger than what I have been earning in my previous job.
So that's how all it started. Don't despair if you can't find a decent job. If you can't get a job, create your own one.

Merienda na lagi kong kinakain sa hapon

Nung high school madalas lalo na pag sobra ang baon kong pera, diretso agad ako sa lugawan at mamihan ng kapitbahay namin along A.H Lacson Street sa Sampaloc, Manila. Bandang 4pm, matyaga akon makipagsiksikan sa mga taxi driver, tambay, kapwa estudyante na makakain ng lugaw, mami o palabok.
Noon 8 pesos ang lugaw na walang laman-loob, 15 pesos pa meron nito. Ang mami naman na sinabawan ng pork stock with pork meat at onion leaves ay 10 pesos pa. Ang palabok naman ay 10 pesos pag regular na ang noodles nya ay miki lang at ang special palabok na puro bihon ang noodles ay 15 pesos naman.
Patok na patok noon ay ang mami at lugaw. People from all walks of life ang pumupunta dito para mamerienda. Meron din tokwa atbaboy, lumpiang gulay, monay at softdrinks.
Tulo uhog mo pa gumamit ka ng sili na nakalagay sa mangkok na maliit sa mesa, di pa kasi uso noon ang chili sauce.
Kaya bago ako umuwi galing school,sinisiguro ko na lagi akong may dalang sobrang pera pambili ng mami o kaya lugaw.........