There is no resident of Bosnia and Herzegovina who does not know what the word avlija (courtyard) means. The Restaurant Avlija was and remains a place of socializing, children’s voices, and not to mention a place of akšamluka (evening sittings) ašikluka (casual flirting). I am writing about one such avlija, but let’s start in order. Bašeskija wrote about courtyards of Sarajevo, which are decorated with behar (flowers on fruit trees ) in the spring and change their physiognomy from day to day to become more and more beautiful. After the spring flowers, May roses arrive, then zambak flowers, then velvet flowers, ilduz flowers. There is no yard without a boxwood bush, carefully cared for and pruned in the most diverse forms, where the gardener’s imagination came to full expression, let me not start writing about horticulture.
Avlija, the place to be in Sarajevo
Generally avlija is a space surrounded by a high wall hidden from the eyes of curious people. It is an intimate space of family life, usually cobbled with stone pebbles brought by hand from nearby streams and arranged with great care into a lacy structure of white mats and covered, as a rule, with green grass. The real cobblestones were never filled with concrete, but a line of grass ran between the snow-white stone balls, which women diligently scrubbed even on days that were not related to holiday festivities.
A lover of the Bosnian way of building and urbanism, a great admirer of the unwritten rule of the right to view, a great architect and professor, a student of the famous French architect Le Corbusier, and later his associate, Mr. Juraj Najthart, spoke so beautifully about Bosnian courtyards in his lectures to architecture students. I had the great fortune and the pleasure, for now vague reasons, to attend his lectures, even though I was never a student of architecture. The memory of that lecture is still fresh in my mind. Well, in one such avlija at the foot of Bjelave, I spent a significant period of my youth. I remember that in that avlija I ate the most delicious zeljanica (Bosnian spinach pie) in my life, and according to the dictionary of our elders, that zeljanica “spoke nine languages”. Fika’s mother Mena made zeljanica so well that as we say “dead mouth would eat it”, and I’m really one hundred percent convinced of that even today.
I will certainly never eat such a zeljanica pie again, but not because Mena forgot the recipe, but for a far more prosaic reason. Such pies are no longer made, because we are all obsessed with a healthy life and no one thinks of making pies with half a dozen eggs, a kilo of full fat cream and another three-ounce pound of homemade full-fat Miller. Even thinking about it makes my cholesterol rise. We often found ourselves in that avlija after our high school obligations, and even later during our studies, we were frequent guests. We enjoyed the smell of grandma’s roses and the many jams that Mena prepared for us, but also those that we brought from home, and later prepared ourselves. Most of us still live in Bosnia, except one of us who not worth mentioning because he sinned badly, according to everything we were, what we felt and thought. Those of us who stayed there often find ourselves in that avlija today.
Today, that space is called simply Restaurant Avlija and it has changed its appearance. It has become a gathering place for those who like cosy music, lots of conversation and excellent food. One day after the last unfortunate war, we were sitting in that old avlija and Fico said that he had decided to offer people the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of his avlija, his hospitality and cordiality. The very idea was foreign to me at first and sounded like blasphemy. But after a few months, Fika’s idea was creatively and inspiredly translated into reality by our friend and significant architect of recognisable handwriting, an admirer of Bosnian intimate, traditional and national architecture, officially ing.arch.urb. Mr. Amir Vuk but to all known as Zec. Thanks to the common idea and aesthetic preferences of the owners, they created iconic place in Sarajevo that sill gathers great people.
“Dnevni Avaz” article. Mladen Jeličić-Troka
27
Years of experience
countless
Great nights
who is even counting that
Server customers
Call Us
For reservations and inquiries
Menu
Take look at homemade specialties we are cooking for you
Order delivery
Delicious food from Avlija at your home address