This Is Double Happiness

BY TAMARA PALMER

I forever won the game of lunch today because I was invited to the original location of Mamahuhu (517 Clement Street, SF) to try the Double Happiness Meal, a sandwich collaboration between Brandon Jew’s fun, casual Chinese restaurant Mamahuhu and Tsar Nicoulai Caviar.

Back in December 2017, Jew let me into his kitchen at Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown to learn how some dishes were made, and I got to see the great care he takes in developing his menus. That experience led to the first blog post on California Eating, and I am forever grateful to get to enjoy his food more often thanks to Mamahuhu. I have eaten and delighted in Mamahuhu’s sweet and sour cauliflower more times than I’d care to admit, so I knew this would be incredible.

The Double Happiness sandwich utilizes the same irresistibly crispy rice-batter for sea bass, which is topped with a tartar sauce made with Taiwanese pickles, pickled Napa cabbage and chrysanthemum slaw on a brioche bun. There’s an amazing sidecar as well: a half-ounce jar of Tsar Nicoulai Estate Sturgeon Caviar with a mother of pearl spoon to control your own portion. But there’s really no reason not to spoon all of it on there, is there?

I experienced more than Double Happiness when getting to try this meal, along with an iced Sichuan strawberry green tea that you shake to blend with cold coconut milk. It’s even summer in the Avenues right now. If you have a soft spot for fried fish sandwiches on soft buns, this is the superlative.

The Double Happiness Meal ($49) debuts on July 18, National Caviar Day, and will be available while supplies last, which could be up to a month, but could also be less. Thank you to Mamahuhu and Tsar Nicoulai for letting me try this dream sequence.

For more personal recs for incredible fried fish sandwiches in California, take a look at my new fried fish sandwich photo set (which also includes this beauty). And for more California Eating, please subscribe at the link below!