Walking into Malka for the first time, in January 2020, felt otherworldly. Completely original while exuding an old Portland charm, the restaurant opened as a converted house lit with imported light fixtures, vines dangling from small nooks and shelves throughout the restaurant’s small dining rooms. Sitting at mismatched chairs and cushioned banquettes, visitors ate astoundingly intricate food, dishes with dozens of components — apricot-curry barbecue sauce, nam prik pao, Thai basil cashew pesto, passionfruit-pineapple-habañero hot sauce. The restaurant was the city’s reintroduction to chefs Jessie Aron and Colin McArthur, who had previously run a wildly popular food cart, Carte Blanche; they had closed the cart to open a restaurant
→ Continue reading at Eater