OUR MISSION

At Maya Congee Café, nourishment extends beyond the body.

Our kitchen is rooted in tradition and guided by care, offering congee and rituals designed for modern life while honoring ancestral wisdom. Each bowl is meant to provide warmth, balance, and a sense of home.

Maya Congee Café exists as a place of belonging. A space where food becomes a love language in connecting culture, community, and inner steadiness. Our work is shaped by intention: to heal gently, to inspire thoughtfully, and to create environments where people feel grounded, seen, and welcome.

Here, nourishment is not rushed. It is seasonal, rhythmic, and shared.

FOUNDER’S STORY

Maya Congee Café was founded in 2017 by Layla Chen, during her early years of motherhood. The café is named after her daughter, Maya – a symbol of continuity, heritage, and care passed between generations.

Born in Guangzhou, China and raised in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, Layla grew up at the intersection of cultures as a first-generation Chinese American. Like many children of immigrants, she followed a prescribed path toward stability (from college to corporate life) developing a broad range of skills across traditional business environments. Yet food remained her true creative language.

At her family’s dinner table, meals were never passive. They were shared, discussed, felt and guided by a father who cooked with humility and lived as a musician. Those moments formed an early understanding of food as connection: a place to belong, to participate, to be known.

Transitioning from corporate work into entrepreneurship required full responsibility and emotional risk. Running a café demanded decisions that extended beyond personal ambition, shaping a space that needed to serve others as much as herself. Over time, a simple question became her compass: Does this feel good in the body, the heart, and the long term?

Through Maya Congee Café, Layla continues to explore harmony, healing, and belonging using food, voice, and thoughtfully held spaces to support connection and care. Her work reflects a belief that when we lead with intention, what we create becomes more meaningful than we can ever imagined.

In front of 1013 Fulton Street for Demo Day, Fall 2024.

Sitting at 563 Gates Ave in Spring 2019.

A rare photo of our family restaurant in Guangzhou, China, 1980s.

WHO WE ARE, HOW WE GOT HERE

COMPANY CULTURE

GRATITUDE

HISTORY OF 563 GATES