a El-Fna Food Stalls
Good for: atmosphere, great atmosphere, Romance, eating dinner afterwards, lovers of food experiences
Not good for: Quiet time!, getting away from crowds, scams
- Address
- Djemaa el-Fna
- Hours
- sunset-01:00
Lonely Planet review for a El-Fna Food Stalls
Around sunset, donkeys descend on the Djemaa hauling gas canisters by the cartload and all the makings of 100 small restaurants. Within the hour, the restaurants are up and running, with chefs urging passers-by to note the cleanliness of their grills, the freshness of their meat, produce and cooking oil, and their aromatic spice mixes.
The grilled meats and cooked salads are cheap and often tasty, and despite alarmist warnings your stomach should be fine if you use your bread instead of rinsed utensils and stick to bottled water. Adventurous foodies will want to try Marrakesh specialities such as steaming snail soup, sheep's brain, and skewered hearts - always go for the busiest stalls with the freshest meats.
Traveller reviews for a El-Fna Food Stalls (3)
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Exciting and delicious
karenbegs recommends this,
You cannot visit Marakesh without coming here! Within an hour the business people descend and the entire square is transformed into a giant food market. (Watch them set up from a local balconied restaurant). There are hundreds of stalls...many offering the same types of food. Pick a stall that is busy. Most of the raw food is on display so you can decide how fresh the food is for yourself. I ate chicken, lots of bread, lamb and cous cous...it was delicious. (and no side effects later on!) My friend had tagine...also yummy. We were there in Feb and it was pouring rain, the covers edging lower and lower with the weight of the rainwater...so if you're visting in Feb bring a rain jacket and a camera. Be careful to avoid scams. There are a lot of belly dancers on the square and if you take a photo they expect payment. Henna tatooing ladies will tatoo your arm (non permanent) before you know it and then reach into your purse and take what money they want. Just stay alert. Atmosphere rocks!
Good for: great atmosphere
Not good for: Quiet time!
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The beating heart of Marrakesh
janenet recommends this,
Brilliant. An excuse to sleep in and stay up late. The market really starts cranking as dusk settles in. Sit at an outside stall and let it wash over you. Highlights: spiced tea, fresh orange juice and the gentle, glowing light of stars and stall lamps.
Just a couple of notes of caution - be careful if taking pictures of games; locals might be playing something deemed illegal and don't like to have it photographed. If a woman approaches you for a henna tattoo, just make sure she doesn't start before agreeing to a price.
Good for: Romance, atmosphere, eating dinner afterwards, lovers of food experiences, eating
Not good for: getting away from crowds, scams
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Cheap & tasty
heatherf recommends this,
Between the sheep’s' heads and snail soup, smoke billows as the turmeric-tinted brochettes are grilling. Spiralling ever upwards toward the darkening sky, merging to blanket the food carts and their white-capped workers. I smell the spices. I smell the cooking meat. I smell people as the crowd swarms around me. This is Marrakesh and the evening food fiesta in its Djemma-el-Fna
I pass the orange juice stalls, where I regularly stop for a sweet fresh juice at only 3 dirhams, then the dried fruit and nut stalls where dates, apricots, peanuts and almonds are piled high. Finally passing the squatting henna lady I enter the alleys between the food carts. "You want to eat, you like brochette, you want dinner then come sit here", assaults my ears from all sides as the stall touts jostle for my business. A menu is pushed under my nose, but I escape with my standard reply "Maybe later".
Finally I reach my destination, Stall number 1, long tables with bench seats. A place mat of a piece of paper. Here salads are piled high in silver bowls: potato, beetroot, eggplant, while brochettes sit geometrically aligned on trays waiting for their turn on the BBQ. In between, stands a woman who controls the stall: collecting the money, issuing the orders. Sitting I have mixed brochettes, beetroot, eggplant, fries plus the tasty orange juice. Who would choose sodas over this? An idyllic meal costing less than $5 with a ceiling of sparkling stars. Who could ask for more?
Good for: atmosphere, Solo Travellers
