“The tomato is a creature, a creature that takes the acidity in the sugars and balances them in a way that you cannot feel how strong the acidity is in the sweetness,” he explains. “That’s magic.”
For chef Eyal Shani, the humble tomato is nothing short of magic.
Shani once spent more than a year and a half developing the tomato sauce for his Tel Aviv pizza concept. With Malka, however, he’s embracing a very different timeline and letting instinct take control. Just over a week before opening, Shani shares with Angeleno: “I’m going for the first time to see the restaurant, to be in the markets, and I have something like 72 hours to create a new menu for Malka,” he says. “The limitation of these 72 hours is a beautiful opportunity for me not to calculate anything, just to do it for my deepest intuition.”
That freedom still operates within Malka’s defining framework: The restaurant follows kosher guidelines. “For me to cook kosher, there’s no big difference between cooking kosher and making my own dishes because I’m almost not using butter, milk and cream,” he shares. “I’m an olive oil man, tomato man, fresh vegetable man.” The seasonally driven menu will remain something of a surprise to diners, though those familiar with his work might just see the mashed-potato-stuffed schnitzel and signature “very Israeli” hummus become mainstays.
“There’s a big difference between Jewish food and kosher food,” he continues. “Jewish food: it’s about tradition, mostly of Eastern Europe.” His aim with Malka is instead to cook distinctly his own way within kosher guidelines—and rethink some of the preconceptions surrounding kosher restaurants. As Shani puts it, “I’m making a very epic kosher restaurant.”
Flattened eggplant, a dish exclusive to Malka’s Beverly Hills location
That sense of freedom extends beyond the plate. Designed by Turjeman Yaakov of Jacob Turgeman Design, who has collaborated on other Shani concepts such as HaSalon, Malka’s space inside SIXTY Beverly Hills reads natural, open and youthful, with the same free-flowing energy the chef envisions his cuisine will make diners feel. After eating, the hope is that “People want to dance. People want to sing. People want to jump,” Shani continues.
For chef Eyal, as with his other concepts, Malka is about the people and the passion, not just among the guests seated in his dining rooms, but also among the motivated staff who work in his kitchen. He isn’t necessarily looking for the most seasoned experts to run the ship; he actually prefers up-and-comers. “I’m cooking from a different point of view than that of the main system in the world of cooking,” explains Shani. “I want them to understand how to watch and feel the wish of the ingredient, what it wants to be.” As he concurs, “I need good people. I need passionate people who can live out of the box, out of the method, out of the lines.”
The Iris: Haku vodka, white peach mint purée and fresh lemon
You’ll feel that energy immediately in any of his restaurants, and Malka plans to keep the spark alive. “My team and I are charging the food with so much passion,” shares Shani, and his strongest hope is that energy will carry beyond the restaurant and the plate and pour directly into diners’ lives—however that feeling manifests for them. “Otherwise, we missed it.”
Dining and Cooking