Chen Mommy Kitchen — Restaurant in New York

When I became pregnant, my mom (who is not local) started researching postpartum delivery services. She was going to come help with my baby for a few weeks but not the full month, so thought it’d be good to try the service.

We sampled a couple other spots and went with Chen Mommy. It’s walkable from Murray Hill LIRR station if you want to go and sample them and don’t have a car.

They did seem to be the best option in the NYC area given that they are inspected by health bureau and had the best balance of taste and Taiwanese style home cooking.

We chose 21 days because it was flexible enough to spread out over the full month. The portions are huge even at the tasting, so it was likely that my husband and I were not going to finish each delivery in one day.

We pre booked in advance for my Oct 2024 due date. The prices did go up in May 2024 so we booked in advance of that.

It was easy to contact them to start right after I came home from the hospital.

After finishing the full 21 days, I can agree with other reviewers that the dishes can feel repetitive over time. There’s good variety if you look at just a 1 week window, but after awhile it is the same. The meat quality is generally not the best, but I think my husband and I concluded the vegetable variety is the best thing from this service. I also generally liked all the desserts.

The one problem with this service is that it is banchan style and there are so many plastic containers used. We wish they just put everything into a bento box style so that there isn’t so much plastic container waste.

They cook with very little oil and salt for a good reason, but I began feeling more recovered after about 1.5weeks and we started adding salt for additional flavor, especially to the soups.

We requested a couple days skipped here and there, and also requested for one less soup dish (and double up on other dishes) since it was difficult to finish those. They would send two extras of vegetable or meat dishes which was nice. The 麻油雞 which is an everyday item in the 3rd week wasn’t very good, so I ended up asking to switch back to the kidney (which is an everyday item in the 2nd week).

In terms of delivery timing, we were told our delivery window would typically be around 9-10am, but it was really inconsistent throughout the 21 days. Sometimes the food would not be delivered until noon. This generally was not a big deal since we would usually need to finish leftovers from prior days, but it can be a bit annoying if you expected to prepare the breakfast or lunch food at a certain time.

Btw the delivery is usually free to most areas of NYC, I believe Jersey is an extra charge since they deliver all the way from flushing.

In total we had 4 different drivers deliver, who would either call or text when the food is delivered (my doorman building only allows food delivery to be dropped off at the lobby).

Overall I think the service is worthwhile especially since cooking or deciding what food to order (even if NYC has a ton of food options) is just an additional task to worry about in that first month postpartum, so it is reducing decision making. For my second child I would probably only do it for 7days though. FYI I only...

Chen Mommy Kitchen meals were such a lifesaver during the postpartum period. I love that I didn't have to worry about ensuring that I was eating stuff that was good for my body recovery and for breast-feeding; that was all taken care of with the pre-defined menu.

The best part, and what set Chen Mommy Kitchen above the various competitors, was that Ms Jane, the owner, was willing to work with me on using my own glass containers. I was able to supply a combination of mason jars and glass food storage containers to their driver and they would bring them back filled with food. It was way better for the environment and much easier for reheating the food safely as well.

I was also pleasantly surprised that they were willing to deliver fresh all the way to Norwalk, Connecticut.

Finally, most importantly, Ms Jane was extremely accommodating and flexible. The quantity of food was much more than I could eat in my exhausted post-partum state and Ms Jane never minded me asking to reschedule a food delivery for a few days later. That was helpful to take away any stress of wasting food.

The only thing that I would've done differently was that I selected the organic menu, and it was made clear from the beginning that not 100% of the food would be all organic due to unavailability of organic options in some ingredients. In the end, I had no idea what was or wasn't organic, but thankfully everything tasted extremely fresh and high quality regardless. Their soups are to die for - every single one has been absolutely delicious.

Thank you, Ms Jane and the Chen Mommy Kitchen team for making my post-partum experience so...

Just went for taste testing with wife, mom and sister to sample the quality of the food. Let me tell you, we were thoroughly impressed with the postpartum meals we tasted. It was exactly how my Taiwanese mom would cook it. The meals completely taste straight out of Taiwan. So yummy!!! They deliver fresh meals (3 meals daily w desserts and drinks) to your door 6 days a week. The service by Jane Chow was also top notch. We signed up for the service on the spot.

They have English and Chinese menus on their website. Check it out if you’re looking for confinement period food services. This is the place to go. So pleased that my wife found this...