Just a stone’s throw from centrally located Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue, the tree-lined neighborhood in and around Plateia Proskopon (Scouts’ Square) is verdant and full of charm. Wonderful dining options abound here, with new entrants such as the popular Mavro Provato joining a host of beloved older eateries. Among the latter is Magemenos Avlos, a glamorous throwback specializing since 1961 in European cooking, and a favorite meeting place of musicians, poets, actors, politicians and remarkable personalities of the 1960s and ’70s.
Stepping into Magemenos Avlos (“Enchanted Flute”) on a recent night, we felt like we were traveling back in time. The main dining room was filled with dark, heavy, ornately carved wooden furnishings and antiques, which, along with the moody lighting, created a romantic, sepia-tinged setting. The exposed brick was covered with beautiful fixtures, photos of famous patrons and aged newspaper clippings, while in the corner near where we sat, a piano, guitars and other musical instruments awaited the next performance (which, unbeknownst to us, would take place that very evening). The sweet, hospitable woman in charge of coat check told us that, from October until May, a different act performs each evening.
Old-school waiters dressed in black with striped aprons circulated the dining room, filling water glasses, and handed us the menu, a catalog of historical dishes that were much loved by the celebrities who dined at the restaurant in its golden age. The carnivorously inclined will feel particularly at home here, as the numerous meat options include chicken cooked a variety of ways, beef tenderloin, fillets, patties and pork preparations. There are also Italian-style pasta dishes and two or three fish options, as well as a wide selection of “grandmother’s traditional dishes,” such as moussaka, roast lamb, rabbit stew and dolmadakia. We made sure to ask about the daily specials, which were veal with eggplant purée and pastitsio, the homey oven-baked pasta layered with ground meat and béchamel sauce.
We started with the delectably crunchy and chewy Parmesan croquettes, a favorite dish of Manos Hatzidakis, the famous Academy Award-winning composer and a regular of the restaurant when he was alive. We also ordered the Hoffman schnitzel, a plumper version of the Viennese cutlet that was sinfully covered with slices of ham and melted cheese and served with French fries. The “Magemenos Avlos” salad, a refreshing mix of lettuce, Chinese cabbage, shrimp and smoked salmon, was topped with katiki Domokou, a traditional spreadable white cheese from Domokos, a small town in Fthiotida, in central Greece. We also had the Chian chicken, a dish of tender fillets and red pepper strips cooked in a light, creamy sauce seasoned with Chios mastic (a resinous flavoring) and pink pepper and accompanied by hearty potato purée.
As we enjoyed our meals, a musician sat down at the piano and began to play French-influenced Greek New Wave tunes from the mid-1960s, which made the evening lovelier still. Other nights might find a jazz combo, blues band, folk singer or maybe even a theater act. We will definitely return for the famous Piccata, steak in red wine sauce with peas, carrots and mushrooms, as well as the cheese fondue that the group at the next table seemed to enjoy immensely. We capped off our dinner that evening with a creamily decadent chocolate mousse enhanced with Grand Marnier – perfect for, ahem, cleansing our palates.
Magemenos Avlos has class in spades, but prices remain quite modest. A very filling dinner runs just €20 to €25 per person, and if you’re lucky with your timing, like we were, you’ll get a little live music as your soundtrack.
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