Avli resides in a mansion dating back to the eighteenth century, with a private garden, in the old town of Malia. During the complete renovation, we took great consideration of the traditional buildings' architecture and structure of the era, to create a restaurant where visitors may experience true Cretan hospitality and taste traditional flavours. Amidst an avli (garden) full of jasmine and honeysuckles, savour dinner and a fine bottle of wine.

We take great care to choose only the freshest, purest, and tastiest local ingredients and cook them using age-old techniques. We bake our bread and most of our meals, including our own "galaktoboureko" dessert, in our wood oven daily.

Tender beef that is slowly cooked in our wood-burning oven and folded in aubergines with local Gruyere cheese, pork shank with local homemade pasta or fresh salmon with strawberry sauce ... are some of our dishes, out of our extensive menu, which is often modified to accommodate seasonal ingredients.

Our effort for evolution in a healthy, Cretan and Mediterranean diet, ends in our kitchen but starts in the field.

We take care of the ingredients used and invest in their quality by keeping our own, private fields where we practice ethical agriculture with absolute respect for the environment, to provide safe and healthy food with a high nutritional value. Learn more  HERE

Over the past few years, we have also moved towards a zero-waste philosophy. We encourage the re-design of the resource life cycle so that most of our products get reused or recycled. 2/3 of our waste ends up in our composter. Organic materials are composted, providing us with organic nutrients for our cultivation. This natural process takes place in our backyard doing our part to reduce our carbon footprint. Learn more  HERE

Have a look at our winelist

Based on a healthy diet and fresh ingredients provided by the Cretan soil, we created our organic farm in Malia. Under the monitoring and instructions of DIO (Inspection and Certification Organization of Organic Products) we cultivate a variety of fruits, vegetables, trees, a vineyard, and a botanical garden, along with traditional facilities like a wine press, a threshing floor, a greenhouse, and a dryer for sun-dried tomatoes and figs. Our free-range hens provide us with fresh eggs while roaming around the farm.

Our crops are grown with respect for the environment, to create healthy and delicious recipes for our restaurant, with aromas from our region. Embracing a farm-to-table philosophy, we return a significant portion of the processing and leftover food back to the farm for our animals' consumption or via composting as organic fertilizer for our plants, thereby reducing our environmental impact.

Soon, we will open our farm for guided tours, offering a spectacular view of Malia from above. Visitors can relax under the shade of our centuries-old carob trees, enjoy a homemade drink from the farm, and bask in the soothing sound of running water. For more details about tours and timetables, visit our site, ask at the restaurant or call.