[2] In 1918, Ma left for the Philippines to seek his fortune in order to win the hand of his sweetheart, Ng Shih, whose parents disapproved of him because of his poverty.

[2][3] Arriving penniless in Binondo, Manila, Ma decided to peddle his own version of chicken noodle soup.

He soon became a familiar sight on the streets of Manila, plodding from Puente de España (now Jones Bridge) to as far as Intramuros and Santa Cruz with a long bamboo pole (pingga) slung on his shoulders and two metal containers on each end of the pole, similar to the equipment of taho vendors then and now.

If he ran out of siopao samples, he would give his business card with his signature at the back to signify a free bowl of mami at his restaurant.

The restaurant would transfer to Calle Azcárraga (now Recto Avenue) in 1948 and eventually move to 545 Quezon Boulevard in Quiapo, Manila two years later.

According to linguist Gloria Chan-Yap, mami is derived from Philippine Hokkien maq ("meat") and mi ("noodle") and is Fujianese in origin, not Cantonese.