Moscow's Aragvi restaurant, once the legendary haunt of KGB spies and cosmonauts, has reopened with its Soviet-era grandeur restored.

The high-end eatery on the main Tverskaya street, which opened in 1938 at the height of Stalin's purges, has relaunched under the same name after a $20 million restoration.

The restaurant opened on the initiative of Stalin's security chief Lavrenty Beria for the use of officials from his NKVD agency, the Soviet secret service later renamed the KGB.