Restaurants in Morocco
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Palais de Poulet
Looking down from the Hôtel Rif towards Ave Hassan II, this is one of several good and cheap rotisserie places where you can fill up quickly on chicken, chips, bread and salad. Although you order from the table, pay at the counter inside.
reviewed
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B
Café Clock
In a restored townhouse, this funky place has a refreshing menu with offerings such as falafel, grilled sandwiches, some interesting vegetarian options, a monstrously large camel burger, and delicious cakes and tarts. Better still, their ‘Clock Culture’ program includes calligraphy and conversation classes, a lecture program and sunset concerts every Sunday (cover charge around Dh20), attracting a good mix of locals, expats and tourists.
reviewed
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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…
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outdoor
One of Essaouira's best food experiences is the outdoor fish grills that line the port end of Pl Moulay Hassan. Just choose what you want to eat from the colourful displays of fresh fish and seafood outside each grill, agree on a price (expect to pay about Dh40 for lunch) and wait for it to be cooked on the spot.
reviewed
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Rick’s Cafe
‘Here’s looking at you kid!’ Cashing in on the Hollywood hit Casablanca, this beautiful bar, lounge and restaurant is run by a former American diplomat, with furniture and fittings inspired by the film, and serving a taste of home for the nostalgic masses. Lamb chops, chilli, hamburgers and American breakfasts as well as a few excellent French and Moroccan specialities are all on the menu. There’s also an in-house pianist, a Sunday jazz session, wi-fi access and, inevitably, souvenir T-shirts. It’s a stunning setting and a good place for late-night drinks. You can watch the film again and again on the 1st floor.
reviewed
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Café Maure
Nestled in the ochre walls of the sqala, an 18th-century fortified bastion, this lovely restaurant is a tranquil escape from the city. Choose to sit in the rustic interior or the lovely garden surrounded by flower-draped trellises and enjoy the wonderfully relaxed atmosphere and friendly service. The menu favours seafood and salads, although meat dishes are also available, and the exotic fruit juices are simply sublime.
reviewed
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E
Tangia
Can a standard chicken tagine with olives and preserved lemons really be worth almost three times what you'd pay in the Djemaa? Tangia will quell any such doubt with aromatic herbed olives, caramelised sauce with a lemony tang but no bitterness, and plump chicken very different from the anorexic variety served elsewhere - and at the next table over, the editors of American and French Vogue also seemed to approve.
reviewed
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La Maison Bleue
Reservations are necessary at this elegant riad restaurant. The setting is intimate and romantic, with diners serenaded by an oud player (replaced by livelier Gnawa song and dance at the end of the evening). You’ll be treated to an array of cooked salads, tajines, couscous and bastilla (savoury pastries), plus filo pastry desserts. Top marks for presentation and atmosphere.
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Thami’s
Of the cluster of pavement restaurants leading from Bab Bou Jeloud to Talaa Seghira, this small corner place under a mulberry tree probably ranks as a favourite. The food is good and comes out bubbling hot, with filling kefta (spiced meatball) tajines, fried fish and bowls of stewed beans. Eat, then sit back and watch the medina parade pass before your eyes.
reviewed
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H
Dar Roumana
The menu here takes cues from the riad’s name – house of pomegranates. Mediterranean with a Moroccan slant, including some interesting seafood dishes such as swordfish with pomegranates. It all works fabulously, and you eat in the courtyard or in fine weather up on the wonderful terrace. Alcohol is served.
reviewed
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Agadir
The interior is thoroughly unassuming, but the checked tablecloths, red wine and Gallic crooning in the background give this place more than a hint of French bistro. Meals are good and hearty, with the free use of fresh herbs raising the succulent tajines to a level above the usual fare.
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Restaurant el-Bahia
Built into the outside of the medina walls and a good spot for people-watching, this laid-back restaurant has the locals lapping up hearty Moroccan fare. Sit on the pavement terrace, in the shaded courtyard or upstairs in the traditional salon.
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K
Le Dauphin
It might have an uninspiring exterior, but the French dining room and lovely garden give this restaurant one of the nicest dining settings in town. The menu is continental, with some good meat and fish dishes. Alcohol is served.
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La Fibule
Subtle lighting, warm colours and an elegant decor give La Fibule an inviting atmosphere. The food is a mixture of well-prepared Moroccan and Lebanese, served at low tables overlooking the ocean through large windows.
reviewed
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La Scala
Excellent Moroccan restaurant, popular with wealthy Moroccans, Arab tourists and Westerners, which makes for a pleasantly cosmopolitan atmosphere. The food is elegant and fresh, and beautifully presented.
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Pâtisserie Driss
For morning croissants or an afternoon pastry the best places to go are Pâtisserie Driss (which has a hidden seating area) and Café Faid, both near Pl Moulay Hassan.
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Snack Amine
Tucked between the chicken rotisseries by the Marché Central, Snack Amine serves up big plates of simple but tasty fried fish, and platters of the freshest seafood.
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Via Veneto
Small, intimate trattoria that serves the best Italian fare in town, including excellent pizzas baked in a wood oven and a great selection of fish.
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Chicken Mac
Chicken Mac quickly serves up generous plates of rotisserie chicken, bowls of harira (soup) and other cheap, filling meals.
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La Siciliana
A bustling little trattoria, this hits the spot with a long list of good wood-fired pizzas.
reviewed
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Al Fassia
Thank goodness Al Fassia is a la carte, if only to save gourmets from our own gluttony. The array of nine starters alone is a proper feast, with orange-flower water and wild herbs raising even the lowly carrot to a crowning achievement. But there's no resisting the legendary mains, cooked Middle Atlas style by an all-women team who present the dishes with a heartfelt b'saha to your health.
The generous helpings seem impossible to finish, but look around and you'll see glassy-eyed diners valiantly gripping morsels of bread, scraping the last savoury caramelized onion from what was once a Berber pumpkin and lamb tagine. The seasonal menu offers enough delights for two…
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Restaurant Dinarjat
Stylish and the most elegant of medina restaurants, Dinarjat is a favourite with well-heeled locals and visitors alike. It’s set in a superb 17th-century Andalusian-style house at the heart of the medina, and has been carefully restored and decorated in a contemporary style but in keeping with tradition. The restaurant is an ode to the Arab-Andalusian art of living with its sumptuous architecture, refined traditional food and peaceful oud (lute) music. The tajines, couscous and salads are prepared with the freshest ingredients, using little fat, and are surprisingly light. Book in advance.
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Sqala Restaurant
Nestled in the ochre walls of the sqala, an 18th-century fortified bastion, this lovely restaurant is a tranquil escape from the city. The café has a rustic interior and a delightful garden surrounded by flower-draped trellises. No alcohol is served, but there’s a good selection of teas and fresh juices. It’s a lovely spot for a Moroccan breakfast (Dh70) or a selection of salads for lunch (Dh68). Tajines are a speciality (the goat tajine with argan oil being particularly good), but the menu features plenty of fish, as well as a selection of meat brochettes.
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Elizir
The best restaurant in town by far, this place was temporarily closed at the time of research, but will hopefully reopen soon. The Elizir serves a perfectly cooked mix of Moroccan and Mediterranean dishes with an innovative twist. The owner of this old house just off the main street is super-friendly, and loves to talk about where he found all the iconic 1950s and ’60s furniture he has collected from local junk markets. The decor is sublime, and if it were in London or New York, it would be voted the hippest place in town.
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Le Pavillon
Just when you think you've taken a wrong turn, a lantern-bearer appears to guide you down the long alley to this lovely riad and its fig tree-filled garden of Gallic delights with Moroccan touches. The duck breast with peaches is especially tender and juicy, and the fish is flaky and delicately scented with local herbs.
The downside is the wine selection: the house wine by the glass we tried was tannic with a vague aftertaste of tyres, so you'll have to spring for the overpriced wines by the bottle.
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