Kaya's Fusion Cuisine
Kaya’s Fusion Cuisine - New Havertown Restaurant
5 Brookline Boulevard, Havertown PA 19083
610-446-2780
http://www.kayascuisine.com/
A few weeks ago I was delighted to see that a new restaurant had opened in my neighborhood – Kaya’s Cuisine at 5 Brookline Boulevard. The interior looked really attractive – and I hoped the food would be just as alluring. We had a reservation for a Wednesday night, after the Market, and to my delight I was asked to bring a box of cherry tomatoes from Wimer’s Organics to the chef who had left them behind while buying for the restaurant. Well, that got my attention, and whetted my appetite! The second sign that we were in for a treat was the smell when we walked in – a restaurant with really good food always has good smells, I have found – and Kaya’s smelled terrific. I gave the box of tomatoes to the very welcoming and gracious hostess who thanked me and smiled, and said the chef was using them with other tomatoes for an heirloom tomato salad appetizer, all sourced from the Oakmont Farmers Market. So our meal started out pleasantly and got even better when the food did indeed live up to its promise – it was a really excellent meal! Last week, I was thrilled to see Mike and Jessica perusing the Oakmont Farmers Market as they shopped for the ingredients for their restaurant. They left with several large bags filled with fresh market food, soon to be enjoyed by lucky diners at Kaya’s.
Kaya’s Cuisine is a family-run restaurant owned and operated by Michael and Jessica Hawthorne, a young Haverford Township couple. Kaya’s Fusion Cuisine, named after their daughter, serves “top quality food at reasonable prices in a cozy yet sophisticated atmosphere” according to Jessica. I would certainly agree! Mike, the chef, was in sales prior to opening the restaurant, but always nursed an abiding passion for food and cooking. Opening a restaurant was his dream. Jessica runs the other side of the restaurant while being a mom, a massage therapist (at her mother’s Main Line Therapeutic Massage here in town) and attending grad school in education. They had long eyed the Brookline site (past homes of Carmine’s and Johnny K’s) and with the help of family were able to buy the restaurant in May. Jessica’s brother Zachary Kutz, a graphic designer, worked nonstop with Jared Brown on the interior reconstruction and decoration and in June the restaurant opened – with rave reviews starting to pour in. Jessica says “people are thrilled with the quality of the food, the atmosphere, and with our attempt to keep prices down by using locally sourced ingredients”. Kaya’s is a BYOB, which allows diners to save money by bringing their own wine or beer – making this restaurant the perfect option for an affordable but yummy night out anytime. And Kaya’s takes reservations, so you can easily plan dinner for two or for the whole family.
But what about the food? Well, Mike and Jessica have been very modest about this, but as a committed and spoiled-by-very-good-restaurants food-lover, I think they are doing a fabulous job. Mike has excellent culinary instincts and serves perfectly cooked, beautifully presented and very tasty food. His sense of flavor and balance are superb; the sweet-sour fruit sauces he used with the duck and the pork we ordered were the perfect accompaniment to the meats. Achieving the proper flavor and texture balance for a sauce is the sign of an accomplished chef. Everything we ate that night demonstrated top-quality ingredients, profound respect for food and flavor, and true skill in the kitchen. I can’t wait to go back - this is a young chef to watch, and we are lucky that Mike and Jessica live here in Havertown!
Kaya’s is open Tuesdays through Sundays (visit the website for the hours) and is available for private parties and catering. They sell their ‘almost famous’ family-secret-recipe cheesecakes whole as well – so you don’t have to worry about making dessert for your next dinner party (or better yet, skip the cooking entirely and just bring the crew to Kaya’s). Check back with this newsletter as we provide recipes for our readers – Mike has generously offered to provide the Oakmont Farmers Market with some of his favorites.
Stop by the manager’s table at the Market to see a sample menu (or go online: www.kayascuisine.com), pick up their business card, and we’ll see you at Kaya’s…hopefully soon!
5 Brookline Boulevard, Havertown PA 19083
610-446-2780
http://www.kayascuisine.com/
A few weeks ago I was delighted to see that a new restaurant had opened in my neighborhood – Kaya’s Cuisine at 5 Brookline Boulevard. The interior looked really attractive – and I hoped the food would be just as alluring. We had a reservation for a Wednesday night, after the Market, and to my delight I was asked to bring a box of cherry tomatoes from Wimer’s Organics to the chef who had left them behind while buying for the restaurant. Well, that got my attention, and whetted my appetite! The second sign that we were in for a treat was the smell when we walked in – a restaurant with really good food always has good smells, I have found – and Kaya’s smelled terrific. I gave the box of tomatoes to the very welcoming and gracious hostess who thanked me and smiled, and said the chef was using them with other tomatoes for an heirloom tomato salad appetizer, all sourced from the Oakmont Farmers Market. So our meal started out pleasantly and got even better when the food did indeed live up to its promise – it was a really excellent meal! Last week, I was thrilled to see Mike and Jessica perusing the Oakmont Farmers Market as they shopped for the ingredients for their restaurant. They left with several large bags filled with fresh market food, soon to be enjoyed by lucky diners at Kaya’s.
Kaya’s Cuisine is a family-run restaurant owned and operated by Michael and Jessica Hawthorne, a young Haverford Township couple. Kaya’s Fusion Cuisine, named after their daughter, serves “top quality food at reasonable prices in a cozy yet sophisticated atmosphere” according to Jessica. I would certainly agree! Mike, the chef, was in sales prior to opening the restaurant, but always nursed an abiding passion for food and cooking. Opening a restaurant was his dream. Jessica runs the other side of the restaurant while being a mom, a massage therapist (at her mother’s Main Line Therapeutic Massage here in town) and attending grad school in education. They had long eyed the Brookline site (past homes of Carmine’s and Johnny K’s) and with the help of family were able to buy the restaurant in May. Jessica’s brother Zachary Kutz, a graphic designer, worked nonstop with Jared Brown on the interior reconstruction and decoration and in June the restaurant opened – with rave reviews starting to pour in. Jessica says “people are thrilled with the quality of the food, the atmosphere, and with our attempt to keep prices down by using locally sourced ingredients”. Kaya’s is a BYOB, which allows diners to save money by bringing their own wine or beer – making this restaurant the perfect option for an affordable but yummy night out anytime. And Kaya’s takes reservations, so you can easily plan dinner for two or for the whole family.
But what about the food? Well, Mike and Jessica have been very modest about this, but as a committed and spoiled-by-very-good-restaurants food-lover, I think they are doing a fabulous job. Mike has excellent culinary instincts and serves perfectly cooked, beautifully presented and very tasty food. His sense of flavor and balance are superb; the sweet-sour fruit sauces he used with the duck and the pork we ordered were the perfect accompaniment to the meats. Achieving the proper flavor and texture balance for a sauce is the sign of an accomplished chef. Everything we ate that night demonstrated top-quality ingredients, profound respect for food and flavor, and true skill in the kitchen. I can’t wait to go back - this is a young chef to watch, and we are lucky that Mike and Jessica live here in Havertown!
Kaya’s is open Tuesdays through Sundays (visit the website for the hours) and is available for private parties and catering. They sell their ‘almost famous’ family-secret-recipe cheesecakes whole as well – so you don’t have to worry about making dessert for your next dinner party (or better yet, skip the cooking entirely and just bring the crew to Kaya’s). Check back with this newsletter as we provide recipes for our readers – Mike has generously offered to provide the Oakmont Farmers Market with some of his favorites.
Stop by the manager’s table at the Market to see a sample menu (or go online: www.kayascuisine.com), pick up their business card, and we’ll see you at Kaya’s…hopefully soon!
posted by Oakmont Farmers Market at
12:10 PM
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