NAE KAE

Chef Maya Walsh
Maya grew up primarily in the suburbs of Washington D.C. but spent several years going back and forth between her parents’ countries of Japan and Canada. A lover of water, she spent her youth body surfing on the beaches of California and sailing and canoeing on the lakes of Ontario. Upon graduating from the University of Toronto where she studied Japanese, Spanish and biology, she realized she wanted more involvement in food. And so her culinary journey began with six months of WWOOF-ing in Spain and Portugal followed by a move to Baltimore where she became involved in the robust organic urban farming community while cooking at an award winning French bistro, bartending at a natural wine and sake bar, and roasting and serving coffee.

During 2020, she lived in Japan where she interned at a Michelin 2 star restaurant and is a graduate of the Ballymaloe Cookery School, an institution located on an organic farm in Cork, Ireland. Having traveled to over 30 countries, her culinary repertoire is immensely diverse. Her experiences have led her to prioritize a commitment to sourcing high quality, seasonal, and local products, creating strong relationships with producers. She especially enjoys foraging, fermenting and pickling. In the off-seasons she loves backpacking, hiking, camping, weightlifting, film, and has recently taken up skateboarding. In the most recent off-season, she was learning about the ancient wine culture of the Republic of Georgia and working the harvest on a low-intervention winery in Slovenia. She is relentless when it comes to furthering her gastronomic knowledge, highly competent and committed to catering to all guests' dietary restrictions, preferences and aspirations.