Inside Chef Eyal Shani’s World of Flavor
Chef Eyal Shani’s introduction to the culinary world began as a child growing up in Israel, when his grandfather, an agronomist, instilled an appreciation for fresh, local ingredients, which continues to influence his philosophy today. “[The connection to produce] led me to understand that each creature reflects the world through its own point of view,” Shani tells Observer. “A carrot reflects the world differently than a tomato, and each creature of the sea has an expression of saltiness but in a sweet way.”
Shani opened his first restaurant, Oceanus, in Jerusalem in 1989. He gained notoriety with the opening of his Tel Aviv restaurants HaSalon and Miznon, taking a revolutionary approach to dining using innovative techniques and a dedication to the craft that allows the ingredients to tell the story of the dish. His vegetable-forward menus reflect his fervent passion for produce with dishes like his famous whole-roasted cauliflower. “I am looking into the depth of the vegetable and keeping it simple and pure,” he says.
He has since opened restaurant locations in New York, Miami, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Paris, London and Vienna, and continues to expand worldwide. Many of Shani’s restaurants transform a meal into a celebration, with late-night dancing on tables and live music, and have earned him a loyal global following.
Shani is continuing to expand his culinary footprint with a new HaSalon location debuting at the W Aspen this winter and his kosher concept, Malka, which is opening in the West Palm Beach area. “We are going to open HaSalon in L.A., and that’s exciting. I want to touch as many different people and cultures as I can,” he says.
He’s also been a judge on MasterChef Israel, and in November 2023, one of Shani’s New York restaurants, Shmoné, was awarded one Michelin star.
“I understand that a nation cannot exist without its own cuisine. And that was my mission—to try to find the first letters of our cuisine in Israel, and until now, I’m still developing it,” Shani shares.
Shani sat down with Observer to share when his love of cooking began, a few of his favorite restaurants around the world and what is on the horizon.
Observer: In what ways do you think growing up with a grandfather who is an agronomist and being a self-taught chef has influenced your culinary style?
Eyal Shani: We all have people in our lives who inspire us. Typically, your mother and father are responsible for you—they raise you, teach you, inspire you. They are trying to instill good character and education, but there is always someone else that is needed to take care of your spirit and inspire you. That was my grandfather.
He was one of the first vegans in Israel at a time when nobody knew the term vegan or ate in that way. Until I was six years old, he was in charge of my diet, and everything I ate was raw, pure and simple. I woke each morning to the sound of juicers extracting the essence of roots, leaves and vegetables. When I craved cake, he would make mixtures ‘baked’ under the sun’s heat on the roof. The first taste I remember is the warmth of the sun on that cake.
Growing up, I ate very few foods, which meant I had enough space and room in my mind to understand the purity, uniqueness and dimensions of each creature of the soul. Each ingredient was the subject. It is the main essence and expresses maximum taste and existence.
How does your upbringing in Israel and its diverse food culture influence how you approach cooking and menu creation?
Israel is a very small, vibrant and flexible country. The fields where all the ingredients grow are 45 minutes from the center of Tel Aviv. So if I’m harvesting tomatoes in the evening, [by] the morning, it is in my restaurant. There’s almost no chain of delivery. It’s farm-to-table, so there’s freshness. And there’s nothing more important in food than freshness, because when you are cutting a fruit, root or a leaf from the plant it continues to live for few hours or for one day, and if you can catch this life, you are bringing the vitality of the ingredient; not the symbol of the ingredient, not the texture of the ingredient, but you are bringing the will of the ingredient to continue to grow, and that is inside your plate.
At all of my restaurants, we change the menu every day. We stand in front of such freshness. You don’t have to be a cook; you just have to be passionate. You are touching something, and it’s becoming your world. It’s leading you to itself and inspiring what you make.
If we change the menu, we have no time to plan and experience the new dish. We have to understand the reason, the essence, the story and the imagination of the dish. If I’m working at one of my restaurants in Tel Aviv and I have a new dish on my mind, I’m not telling my team the details; I’m telling them the story. They try to design it in their own way. That is a system that allows cooks to be chefs. This is how Israel has influenced me and has become the only way I work.
Tell us about the first restaurant you opened.
The first restaurant I opened (Oceanus) was in Jerusalem, which is in the mountains, not by the coast. It was a fish restaurant, though it didn’t make any sense to open a fish restaurant by the mountains. I didn’t know how to cook, but I was influenced by a former girlfriend who said I was talented. I wasn’t talented at all—I didn’t know how to cook. I opened the restaurant but didn’t know how to operate or execute the menu. It was a small restaurant with only 22 seats. One of the best food journalists in Israel came in 1989 and said it was the best restaurant in Israel.
Is there a particular dish or ingredient that defines you as a chef, and if so, what is the story?
[At my first restaurant], we had hundreds of people around the block, and I didn’t know how to cook. I was so embarrassed by this, and instead of cooking the menu, I used to peel tomatoes to run away from the service. I peeled them without purpose and nothing was happening. One day, I made a deeper cut and everything changed. I realized the tomato was like a piece of meat. A slice of salmon or tuna. If it is meat, I could make a carpaccio, a sashimi or a tartare. I made a tomato sashimi and it was the first sashimi in the world that didn’t stand on the subject of fish. Nowadays, everyone makes sashimi out of all types of ingredients. But in that small sashimi, the first sashimi made out of a vegetable was made. I then understood I had an ability to see, to look at the deepest layers of the reason and will of the ingredients. That made a big change in my way. I got courage and I understood.
HaSalon is set to open this winter at the W in Aspen. What drew you to Aspen as the next destination for your restaurant, and how do you see it aligning with HaSalon’s philosophy and atmosphere?
As with all of my restaurants, they found me. They seduced me. Aspen was no different. What caught me was the view of the mountains and the snow. I felt freedom, and freedom is a horizon that is very far away from you. That was my first feeling.
People all over the world dream of Aspen. The vacations, the heights, the skiing and the open spaces. These are enough ingredients for me to be seduced and to know how to assemble them quickly and create a special version of HaSalon for Aspen. I don’t need more than that. It makes my imagination work.
To open a restaurant, you need to understand the culture, the place, the people, the wishes, the dreams. I don’t want to copy and paste my restaurants, even as we open new spaces around the world. Each place, view and culture is another ingredient in my journey.
What can you tell us about the restaurant? Do you anticipate the same lively ambiance with dancing on the tables?
At all of my restaurants, I want to create a feeling that you never want to leave—the food and experience fill you with such happiness that you are dancing on the table. That is the feeling at HaSalon, no matter what city you’re in.
You’re bringing Malka, your kosher restaurant concept, to West Palm Beach. Why is it important to you to change the perception of kosher food and restaurants?
Malka’s new West Palm Beach location is an incredible restaurant. The restaurant includes a custom open-fire wood-burning grill that has so many different fire instruments at the table. It’s the most beautiful fire machine I have ever seen. A cook only has two opportunities and tools in the world: a knife and fire. With the knife, you design the shape, which affects the texture and taste of the food. The blade brings to life your imagination. We are not animals. We cannot cut meat with anything except a knife. The second tool is the fire. It does not belong to you; it belongs to God. The fire is your trust in God; in the nature of evolution.
There has never been a kosher restaurant based on fire, and now we have this incredible fire machine in Palm Beach. It is doing something kosher restaurants have never done in the past. When I opened Malka in Tel Aviv, I felt that I created the happiest restaurant in the world. It was easy to create a kosher restaurant. I’m already only working with olive oil, not butter. If you are not using butter, milk or cheese, you’re already 98 percent kosher. Kosher meat? No problem. If you want juicy and tasty meat, marinate it with salt, which is what I’m doing. The fact that the restaurant is kosher is not stopping me from anything. The only problem is dessert, but it’s forced me to be creative and find my way.
For us, the most important thing is the happiness from the food and experience at the restaurant. Food is a tool for us to make people happier. I think we are the first people in the world to make kosher food big. I hope this happens in West Palm Beach. There’s a big movement of great restaurants and young energy coming to West Palm Beach, which is exactly what I need.
Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of food and dining, and how do you see yourself contributing to that evolution?
There is so much change in the food scene around the world with the internet, Instagram and TikTok. There is also much excitement around restaurants like Noma and the food scene in Copenhagen. [Noma is unveiling a new concept in 2025.] For me, my way is to purify my food until I can send it into the depths of my guest’s body as pure energy.
What are your favorite restaurants and hotels worldwide?
I love many restaurants all around the world, but have had especially amazing experiences in Paris. Les Enfants du Marché in the Marché des Enfants-Rouges serving some of the best food in Paris. They change the menu every day and it is all about ingredients and quality. They give you a simple glass of wine and ingredients and create the most beautiful dishes.
Hotel Costes in Paris has the most seductive restaurant of your life. It was created not as a hotel with a restaurant, but as a restaurant with hotel rooms. It is the most beautiful and sexiest hotel. So simple, but perfect. When you are at the restaurant, you feel like royalty. It is not the decor making you feel this way, but the frequency.