Chef Hui is proud to launch our We ❤️ Chinatown x Give & Go Program in partnership with Grace Young and our Chef Ambassador Chef Robynne Maii
In Hawai‘i food crosses boundaries, relationships, and knowledge held within our various circles. Sharing food means sharing our heritage and nourishing ourselves and our communities. This statewide program, which began in 2020, aims to address the tragic economic effects of the pandemic on our culinary community while mitigating food insecurity by supporting minority owned and operated restaurants to produce community meals. Since inception, this program has partnered with over 60 restaurants to provide over 150,000 meals to communities in need.
Your Support
Every dollar donated allows us to provide stipends for the creation of these meals and deliver these meals free of charge to community partner organizations. As we continue to support the resiliency of Chinatown restaurants following COVID-19, we look forward to working with several family owned legacy Chinatown restaurants to provide meals to kupuna (elderly) and low income families in Chinatown.
All donations to the Give & Go X We ❤️ Chinatown program will help several legacy, minority owned businesses provide meals to elderly and at risk members of the Chinatown Community free of charge.
About Grace Young
Known to many as “The Stir-Fry Guru, Grace Young is the 2022 Humanitarian of the Year, a James Beard award-winning cookbook author, and a renowned culinary historian who documents the impact of COVID-19, xenophobia and the decrease in tourism within the Manhattan Chinatown community. She has partnered with Welcome to Chinatown’s Sik Faan / Let’s Eat Fund to support Chinatown eateries and distribute food in the community and has raised over $39K to provide 3,900 meals to for low income, food insecure, and at-risk senior residents in NYC.
This Support Chinatown movement has grown to help more Chinatown areas flourish and to highlight the far too often overlooked stories of the people that make up these communities.
About Chef Robynne Maii
Born and raised in Honolulu, Robynne Maii is the chef and owner of award-winning restaurant Fête in Honolulu’s Chinatown, along with newly opened Heyday at the historic White Sands Hotel. Her most recent accolade is being named 2022 James Beard Award Foundation Best Chef for the Northwest and Pacific Region on her first nomination. While she is the first Hawaii-based recipient to win this award in 19 years, she is also the first Native Hawaiian woman to win a James Beard Foundation award.
She received her culinary and pastry arts degree from Kapiʻolani Community College and began her culinary adventure at Kaimuki’s 3660 on the Rise, cooking under Chef Russell Siu and Padovani’s Bistro and Wine Bar, in Waikiki where she transitioned to full-time pastry cook under Chef Pierre Padovani before earning her master’s degree in food studies from New York University.
Alongside her business and life partner, Chuck Bussler, Chef Robynne owns and operates Fête on N. Hotel St. in Chinatown. At its core, Fête is dedicated to the local farm-to-table movement. The seasonal New American restaurant stays true to its chef’s local roots and supports over 20 community partners, farmers and artisans while mentoring the next generation of culinary talent. During the peak of the pandemic, Chef Robynne and her team provided over 300 meals to those in need while voicing the needs of her community.