Turkish coffee, custom croissants, and Italian gelato are coming to Cherry Hill Mall
The owners of Blue Fig Garden at Cherry Hill Mall are bringing Maya Bohem, a Turkish cafe concept, to South Jersey. It will replace the Bistro, a mall fixture that closed amid legal troubles.
A Turkish coffeehouse brand is preparing to make its U.S. debut at Cherry Hill Mall, taking over the kiosk occupied for 27 years by the Bistro at Cherry Hill, which closed last year amid bankruptcy proceedings.
Maya Bohem Coffee, which has three locations in Turkey, is targeting a Dec. 1 opening in the mall’s main corridor, said Osama “Sam” Jadalla, a co-owner of Blue Fig Garden, the Turkish-Eastern Mediterranean restaurant that opened in 2022 on the mall’s perimeter, near the Apple store.
Unlike the Maya Bohem cafés in Turkey, which emphasize coffee, pastries, and desserts, the Cherry Hill location will offer a broader food menu, including Neapolitan-style pizza made with 48-hour-fermented dough, gluten-free pizza, pasta, salads, burgers, chicken tenders, and sandwiches, Jadalla said.
The cafe also will serve hot and cold coffees, lattes, matcha, and other drinks using Maya-brand coffee imported from Turkey. Croissants will be filled to order with customers’ choice of pistachio, Biscoff, Nutella, raspberry, and other fillings.
The setup will be similar to Bistro at Cherry Hill’s. Customers will order at a counter or kiosk, with seating for those who want to linger. Jadalla compared the service model to Starbucks, though with a more extensive food menu. He expects takeout to account for much of the business.
Maya Bohem’s website lists locations in Gaziantep, Tekirdağ, and Adıyaman, Turkey.
The cafe will replace one of the mall’s longest-running independent restaurants. The Bistro, which opened in 1998 and was known for its wraparound counter and Italian American menu, closed July 10, 2025, after a bankruptcy judge converted its Chapter 11 reorganization proceeding to a Chapter 7 liquidation.
Its owner, Andrew Cosenza Jr., said at the time that a breakdown in communication during health problems had contributed to the shutdown, and he hoped to reopen. Mall owner PREIT had won a nearly $1.6 million judgment in a rent dispute that March.
Cosenza also faces criminal charges. A New Jersey grand jury indicted him in October 2025 on 17 counts including theft, filing fraudulent tax returns, and failing to remit collected taxes. State prosecutors allege that he collected $271,621 in sales tax from Bistro customers in 2021 and 2022 but failed to turn it over to the state. The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to an inquiry Tuesday about the status of the case.
Maya Bohem will be the latest venture for Jadalla, who opened the original Blue Fig Cafe in Moorestown in 2011 with partners and sold it two years ago. (The Young Avenue location is still open daily.) Jadalla’s partners include Fatih Karatas and Muhammet Geyikgolu, who also are involved in Blue Fig Garden locations in Wayne, N.J., and Southbury, Conn. Mahmoud Nashmi and Loai Habib, among the partners in the newer Connecticut restaurant, also are involved in Maya Bohem, which the group hopes to franchise.
Jadalla emphasized that Maya Bohem is a separate concept from Blue Fig Garden, intended for customers seeking anything from a cup of coffee to a casual meal.
Jadalla said display cases, branded cups, plates, and takeout packaging are being shipped from Turkey. Their arrival, along with installation and health inspections, could affect the opening date.
The menu also will feature Italian gelato. Jadalla said the partners have already purchased two specialized machines at $22,000 apiece.
“Forty-four thousand dollars — just for ice cream,” he said.
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