MANASSAS, VA – Northern Virginia will soon be home to one of the only restaurants in the state offering a relatively little-known type of Southeast Asian cuisine.
Maylos Cafe, coming soon to Manassas, will offer Cambodian food to a region with plenty of Thai, Vietnamese and even Lao menus, but almost none highlighting the cuisine of the Khmer culture.
Ryna Mayorga and her husband, Esdras Mayorga, of Manassas, plan to open their new venture by the end of the year, and perhaps as soon as November.
Ryna's family is Cambodian, and she tells Patch she's excited to bring her family favorites to the Cambodian community and to introduce them to other curious eaters.
"I just really wanted to create a place where people can experience Cambodian food in a welcoming environment, and have them try food that they've never tried before," Mayorga told Patch. She says she's also looking forward to giving Northern Virginia's Cambodian community a place to eat the food they grew up with.
Cambodian food shares some common ingredients and influences with its Thai and Vietnamese neighbors but has its own character and delicacies. Much of the cuisine is built around rice and fish, and Cambodian dishes tend to be herb-forward and aromatic, with plenty of lemongrass and kefir lime leaves, aiming for a precise balance of sweet, salty, spicy and bitter flavors. They tend to pack less heat than Thai and Lao dishes, but can make up for it with pungency, especially with the region's famous fermented fish sauce. Cambodian black pepper is also recognized as a distinct global treasure.
Maylos Cafe's menu has been inspired by her mother, Mayorga says. "We'll be serving Cambodian comfort food." As the restaurant opens, they'll aim for a balance of authenticity and options for guests just dipping a toe into new flavors.
The restaurant doesn't have a full menu available yet, but visitors can expect nomphang, a legacy of the French presence in the country; an array of Cambodian soups, including breakfast favorite kuyteav; as well as curries, fried rice and noodle dishes; Mayorga's party favorites like chicken egg rolls and beef skewers and more. She'll also have Cambodian coffee and Asian favorites like smoothies and boba teas.
Prince William County has one of the largest Cambodian populations in Virginia, and in Northern Virginia as a whole they are several thousand strong. But the only place to get Cambodian food so far is, "mom's house, grandma's house," Mayorga says.
"We always come together with food," she explains. "My mom is almost 80, and all the time when she makes food, she always tells me, my siblings, even her grandkids, 'Bring Tupperware.'" That's the family love language, Mayorga says: cooking enough of this traditional comfort food to send family and friends on their way with a reminder of home.
"And then I always love cooking and sharing food with people, so it was just kind of something where the more we talked about it, the more we realized, hey, this is an opportunity to bring something different to the community. I'm really excited to finally make it happen."
The team recently shared a taste of what's to come at a pop-up event at Manassas' Image Studios.
Maylos Cafe is set to open before the end of the year at 8021 Centreville Road in Manassas.
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