Michelin-Starred Israeli Chef Eyal Shani Brings Kosher Restaurant “Malka” To NYC
At a time when much of the news coming out of Israel is about the horrific events of October 7th and the war that followed, positive news is in short supply but more than welcome.
The exciting development comes as Michelin-starred Israeli chef Eyal Shani brings kosher restaurant “Malka” to NYC, his first kosher-certified restaurant outside of Israel. Malka is a somewhat casual spot in the same space previously occupied by one of Shani’s restaurants called “North Miznon” (which wasn’t certified kosher). The restaurant has been met with much acclaim and joins Manhattan’s vibrant kosher restaurant landscape.
The Opening Is Bittersweet
While the opening of a flagship restaurant in “the city that never sleeps” is a joyous time under regular circumstances, the opening of Malka comes a bit more than a month after the terrible attacks by Hamas on communities in southern Israel and the bloody war that followed.
In the aftermath of October 7th, Shani closed his numerous restaurants in Israel and converted them into volunteer kitchens providing thousands of meals to frontline responders, including soldiers.
After a few weeks of public service, Shani reopened his restaurants, and though he felt torn about traveling, the opening of Malka occurred in mid-November 2023.
It is the first time in my life that I don’t have the will to travel, to get out of Israel, because of the situation in Israel now.
Eyal Shani
Menu Items Of Note
Like several of Shani’s other restaurants, Malka’s menu will vary seasonally and “showcase the flavors of Israeli cuisine with the freshest ingredients sourced locally.”
The inaugural menu will include the hallmark “Jewish-inflected” ramen chicken soup and a chicken schnitzel stuffed with mashed potatoes that “ooze out,” a signature dish in the founding location, Malka Tel Aviv.
Other notable menu items include a charred beetroot carpaccio and lamb shank. While fish and meat feature throughout the menu, like many of Shani’s other restaurants, there is a strong showing of vegetables, including an item titled “A pile of everything white and green.” Shani said that all vegetables except the tomatoes will be from upstate New York or California. “Real tomatoes cannot travel,” he said. Illustrative of his passion for tomatoes, a tomato was offered for $24 at Shani’s restaurant at Hudson Yards.
Shani uses olive oil as a key ingredient and has stated, “If olive oil disappeared from the world, I would quit and leave the profession. I would not be a chef.” At Shani’s other New York (non-kosher) restaurants, chefs use high-end olive oils from Spain, Italy, and Israel, and chefs at Malka will do the same.
The menu also offers an assortment of wines and craft cocktails, including those with arak, a traditional Levantine alcoholic beverage common in Israel that is made of grape and aniseed.
Malka’s Kosher Certification
Most of Shani’s restaurants are either not kosher at all or may use kosher ingredients but are not certified. Besides Malka in Tel Aviv, which is kosher certified, Malka NYC is Shani’s first kosher restaurant outside of Israel.
Malka NYC is certified kosher by National Kosher Supervision (NKS) under the auspices of Rabbi Aaron D. Mehlman, the rabbi of Congregation Ohav Sholom in Manhattan. NKS is not the most widely accepted kosher certification, especially regarding meat.
About Shani
Shani took an interesting trajectory in his journey as one of the “founding fathers” of modern-day Israeli cuisine. Born in 1959, Shani was born in Jerusalem and took great inspiration from his vegan grandfather, who lived upstairs from the Shani family and served Eyal a variety of raw foods and juices as well as grandfather-grandson trips to vineyards and markets, which taught young Eyal to have an appreciation for the “purity” and value of vegetables and fruit.
After his army service, Shani traveled in Europe for two years and, upon his return to Israel, lived on a friend’s farm in the north of the country. Shani describes his time on the farm as formative, and it was there that he decided to become a chef.
“I lived there for a year like a priest — I ate from the fields and drank the water that I took from the ground. One day, there were some hunters who were my friends and they came to bring me four porcupines. I lit the fire and ate [them], drank two bottles of wine and fell asleep in the middle of the field. I woke up in the morning and decided that all I wanted to do was cook.”
Eyal Shani On His Experiences Living On A Farm In Northern Israel
Shani’s Other Restaurants Including A Michelin Starred One
Malka NYC joins a growing portfolio of more than forty restaurants spanning the globe, including in cities such as Tel Aviv, Vienna, London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Mexico City, Zurich, Paris, Boston, Miami, and New York City. Other spots in New York include HaSalon, Port Sa’id, and most notably, Shmoné in Greenwich Village, which just recently won a Michelin star, Shani’s first. The Michelin Guide described Shmoné as a restaurant that “punches way above its weight with dazzling Neo-Levantine cuisine.” Earning a sought-after Michelin star puts Shani’s Shmoné on a list of only 55 out of New York’s 24,000 restaurants with such a rating.
While Shani does not personally adhere to kosher restrictions, and most of his restaurants are not kosher, he has a sincere place in his heart for making his creations available to the kosher diner. “These people are part of my nation… Part of my people. How can I make food without letting half of my people eat it? That is the main reason I opened Malka.”
Shani has no plans to slow down. Even after opening several restaurants in the last few years, in the coming months, Shani plans to open more restaurants, including more in New York, though those will likely be non-kosher.
January 2024 Update
Only a mere weeks after opening Malka, Shani’s newly opened Miznon location at 1410 Broadway has gone kosher, too! It is unclear if the conversion to getting this Miznon location kosher certified was planned or is perhaps due to the immense success that Malka is experiencing. The location will have the same kosher certification as Malka (Rabbi Aaron D. Mehlman).
Note: Only the Miznon on Broadway is kosher certified. There are numerous Miznon’s, including others in NYC, such as in the Chelsea market, as well as in cities such as Paris, Tel Aviv, and London, which are not certified kosher.
“When I heard we won the Michelin star, I was happy, but not so much, because there is no place for happiness now… But when I saw my partners, my chefs, climb to the stage to get the star, and I saw the flag of Israel on their jackets, I began to cry. That was my happiness. And that is my happiness to open a kosher restaurant, too.”
– Eyal Shani After Winning A Michelin Star For Shmoné
Visit Malka
161 West 72nd Street
New York, NY 10023
*Malka currently accepts reservations via Resy and also claims that they accept walk-ins, but we have reports that at least some walk-ins have been turned away as the restaurant is at capacity. Reservations are also currently showing as unavailable for all dates we searched for via Resy.
