Restaurant review:
Easy with the ouzo
Gamal Nkrumah drinks in the Alexandrian view
Athineos, the legendary Alexandrian restaurant, has seen better days. Sunlight streamed through the windows, and the Athineos furnishes majestic Mediterranean vistas. A short stroll from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, its view is truly exhilarating, overlooking landmarks such as the Qait Bey Fort and the Al-Musri Abul-Abbas Mosque.
The walls and ceilings are pretentiously adorned with stylised mock-classical Greek motifs, gilded friezes and stenciled frescoes. Columns and chandeliers, however, give character to the dark-panelled restaurant. Otherwise, the Athineos is rather spartan.
The drab restaurant is one of several grand old Alexandrian patisseries, which, like the famous Pastroudi's, were Greek-founded. Alas, authentic Greek food is nowhere to be found in Athineos.
The misleading menu features a wide range of mouthwatering Greek and seafood dishes. On further inquiry, only the most common Egyptian fare is actually available. The so-called "Alexander rice with seafood" on offer turns out to be the shrimp red rice traditionally served in Egypt with seafood. Souvlaki is actually kebab or shish tawook, the waitress explained. She flushed and furiously fluttered her eyelashes, slightly embarrassed at this masquerade.
The menu comes in Greek, English and Arabic with a two page account of Alexander the Great's adventures. The exposé makes for an interesting read to while the time away as you wait to be served.
The "Mermaid of Alexandria", as the restaurant was once dubbed, has not aged particularly gracefully. The Athineos is obviously in urgent need of a facelift. Still, its huge banquet hall is a popular venue for celebrating weddings and other special occasions.
Inside the Athineos, it is easy to imagine the golden age of Alexandria. The celebrated Alexandrian poet Constantine Cavafy frequented the restaurant, as did Lawrence Durrell, who called Alexandria "the capital of memory".
The Athineos markets itself as a Greek and seafood restaurant, but it is neither. I ordered seafood -- in retrospect, I should have known better.
The prawns were flavourless. I was looking forward to daubing the prawns with taramasalata, the tasty Greek pink paste made from tamara, or smoked carp roe, blended with spring onion, olive oil and lemon juice. "Sorry, there is no tamara today," the waitress apologised, helpless. "And, what about saghanaki," I ventured, "Or spanakopita?" I had no luck on either count.
Saghanaki is an irresistible, deep-fried, cheesy Greek entrée. Spanakopita, a delicious spinach pie, is another common hors d'oeuvres that was nowhere to be seen on the menu.
For starters, I ordered seafood soup, and instead received a fishy concoction thickened with far too much flour. Mercifully, the Athineos does serve ouzo, the potent aniseed-flavoured Greek drink.
I sat by the window drinking in the fine view from the Athineos, reflecting on how the Alexandria of Cavafy has gone with the wind. As for the Athineos, in a word, it has had it.
Athineos, 21 Saad Zaghloul Square, Alexandria
Tel 486 0421 or 486 8131
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 30 October - 5 November 2003 (Issue No. 662)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/662/li3.htm