Joycelyn Lo and Kai Huang, a couple from New York, are the proprietors of Tangra’s Daughter, a restaurant offering Indo-Chinese cuisine at 4707 Texas 6.
Like Tex-Mex, Indo-Chinese food represents a blend of cultures, offering traditional Chinese dishes made with ingredients commonly used in Indian cuisine.
“So far, the word-of-mouth feedback has been good,” said Huang, 31. “When people get their first taste, they say, ‘Wow, this is a lot of flavor, a lot of spices.’ So, they definitely come back again.”
Popular Indo-Chinese dishes include chicken lollypops — deep fried, tangy, spice-coated chicken drumsticks — and momos, which are steamed, meat-filled dumplings.
Tangra’s Daughter serves halal meat and no pork.
“We’ve definitely had good feedback from the Muslim community and especially during like Ramadan,” Huang said.
Lo’s father, Peter, opened Tangra Masala in Elmhurst, N.Y., in the early 2000s. The success of that enterprise led him to open another restaurant nearby five years later.
The inspiration for the name of Peter Lo’s restaurant came from his hometown in Kolkata, India, specifically from the Chinatown area known as Tangra.
In the late 1700s, when Kolkata, previous known as Calcutta, was the capital of British India, a wave of migrants from neighboring China came to the city looking for work.
As the settlers began using Indian ingredients and spices in their cooking, a new type of cooking developed called Indo-Chinese cuisine.
Huang and Lo had always wanted to start a business together, Huang said.
They could not find a reasonably priced location in New York, and a friend recommended the Sugar Land and Missouri City area, noting its diverse population of food enthusiasts.
After a six-month search, Lo and Huang secured their spot in Missouri City. They relocated in July and opened Tangra’s Daughter in the fall.
Since Lo had grown up watching her father run two successful restaurants in New York, the couple decided to start one together.
“I wasn’t really in the food industry,” Huang said. “But I had experience in project managing. I started learning the craft and recipes and picked up everything pretty fast. Now I’m the one in the kitchen prepping. She is very knowledgeable about the hospitality business, so we work hand-in-hand.”
juhi.varma@houstonchronicle.com
