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Moroccans proudly assert that their cooks produce one of the four great cuisines of the world (the others being Chinese, French and Indian). An extreme claim, perhaps, but Marrakech is winning culinary credentials, and there is interesting food for all budgets. Everywhere you’ll find the Moroccan national standards, couscous and tagjine (meat and seasonal vegetables slow cooked on a brazier), plus other more subtle dishes. Tanjia (lamb slow-baked in a clay pot) is the local speciality . In old Marrakech, options range from street-side barbecues to diet-destroying gourmet banquets in a palatial setting. A new breed of boutique restaurants serves a makeover version of Moroccan food: all the staples with Levantine, Italian and Gallic grace-notes. Service will be kindly and attentive and the freshness of the ingredients makes for fine-flavoured food. In Essaouira, the choice of eateries is similar to Marrakech but with an emphasis of fish. In the mountains, expect to eat a lot of tajine. However, beware of salads and fresh fruit in the cheaper restaurants. Hygiene is not always what it should be.
You may want to try the blow-out Marrakchi dining experience in all its six course splendour. After harira soup or a selection of salads, you’ll be served a ‘yellow’ dish, possibly chicken m'qalli, couscous, bastilla (filo-pastry pie with pigeon, egg and almonds) and possibly steamed lamb. Afters may include jaouhara (fried filo pastry with a cream), kab ghzal, ‘gazelle horns’ or a palate-cleaning orange and cinnamon salad.
The traditional banquet generally includes some sort of ‘entertainment’, ranging from the discrete tinkling of a lutist to the plaintive cries and thrumming of gnaoua musicians. A danseuse orientale often makes her entrance just in time for dessert, and it is traditional for the most ungainly Caucasian male to be dragged from his seat to perform. If the full banquet experience doesn’t appeal (cost generally between 550dh and 800dh, with wine), then there are plenty of restaurants which have à la carte menus.
NB When dining out in a ‘palace’ restaurant, make the reservations yourself, if possible. Travel agencies and other intermediaries make large commissions, often as much as 30% of the price of a meal. If the restaurant seems to be in the depths of the médina, ask where you’ll be met or what you need to tell the taxi driver.
Interesting salads excepted, vegetarians get a raw deal. Practically all main dishes are cooked with meat, an ingredient so central to the culture that for most Moroccans being vegetarian is hardly conceivable. (The main religious holiday, Aïd el Kebir, centres on the ritual sacrifice of a sheep or goat.) In your average restaurant, serving a vegetarian couscous means taking the meat off the top. Be prepared to eat lots of omelettes and processed cheese but enjoy such delights as aubergine zaâlouk, grilled pepper and tomato salad and bissara (bean soup).
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