The driver of our ‘petit taxi’ is constantly pressing his horn, as if by magic it will make the melee in front of us vanish. It appears they drive on the right hand side in Marrakech but that is not always clear to see; the middle of the road seems more favoured by our taxi driver. When we arrive the owner of Riad Dar Tayib, Vincent, opens the door and we are immediately transported to another world of tranquillity, harnessed by the North-African decor and French style.
We are led to the roof terrace for some mint tea. It arrives in an ornate silver teapot on a brass tray with colourfully decorated glasses; we are also given fennel crisp bread. The mint tea is fresh and invigorating but ludicrously sweet; I can see myself getting addicted to this, although I am not sure my teeth will consent. Thankfully Vincent offers to take us to the Djemma el-fna (main square) and as he leads us through the medina he points out landmarks to remember on our way back. As soon as we reach the square the wafts of spices and music from the snake charmers hits us, the Djemma is alive with people.
It is lunchtime and Vincent had recommended Chez Chegrouni, which is right on the square with great people-watching opportunities. I order the ‘brochettes de viande’ (that turns out to be beef) and my girlfriend, Nicky, orders the grilled chicken; both come with saffron rice, fries, olives and flat bread and are simple but well flavoured. Our orange juice arrives and is possibly the best I have ever tasted; fresh, sweet and with just the right amount of bitterness to hit your taste buds at the end. It is so good I finish it and order another one. Our entire meal comes to 96 Dhs (approximately £7).
As we venture through the souqs they are awash with people haggling and squeezing through the constant traffic. We walk quickly to avoid getting talked into buying anything on our first day; I have no faith in my haggling abilities yet. As I meander I see olives, spices, dried fruits and silver teapots; I want to buy them all but I control myself and walk on.
Vincent has booked us a table at Al Fassia, a traditional restaurant staffed mainly by women, an uncommon sight in Morocco. From the moment we arrive the Moorish extravagance is evident throughout and I feel as if I have entered one of the great Muslim palaces of the past. The wine list consists entirely of Moroccan wines, a subject I have no knowledge of. However the Merlot, Les Vins de Cépage that I pick is excellent, much to my delight. For starter Nicky has Harira, a traditional soup with meat, vegetables, chickpeas and lentils; typically served at night to break the fasting during Ramadan. I opt for one of the most famous Moroccan dishes, Bstilla or Pastilla as the French call it. This is a sweet and savoury flaky pie filled with shredded pigeon and fried almonds.
The soup comes in small bowl with lemon and dates and a large decorated porcelain pot that has enough soup in it to satisfy an entire family after Ramadan. It is thick, meaty and full of flavour; I certainly would fast for this. The Pastilla is an extremely intelligent bit of cooking; the shredded spiced pigeon contrasts with the crunchy almonds that in turn vary to the lighter crunch of the flaky pastry, all this is topped with cinnamon and sugar. It transfers me to my childhood and reminds me of the Bobotie I ate in South Africa and my mother trying to keep up with my unquenchable desire for pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. All this makes for a truly enjoyable experience.
For her main course Nicky settles on the chicken tagine with caramelised onions. Her eyes drop when the theatrical removing of the lid reveals at least half a chicken awaiting her. I pick the tomato, meatball and egg tagine, because we are learning to cook it at the cookery course tomorrow. The meatballs are moist and spicy and the sauce is thick and intense, both complemented by the runny yolk of my egg. This is good wholesome cooking and I like it. The chicken tagine is fruity and very similar to a pot roast, like mine it has a good homely sense to it. Both come with couscous and flatbread, the former having the finest granules I have ever seen.
I would like to tell you about the desserts we order, but with portions of this size I can’t move let alone eat any more. Even Nicky, who has a separate stomach for desserts, declines. After our meal we are given eucalyptus hot towels and perfumed rose water to wipe our hands with. The service is excellent and the setting even better. The entire bill comes to 900 Dhs (approximately £70). I challenge anyone to finish three courses here.
The next day Vincent organises us a taxi to the cookery course at Jnane Tamsna, a boutique hotel situated on the outskirts of Marrakech. The chef meets us in the lounge where we are drinking juice from oranges they have grown and leads us to the kitchen, where everything is set up and awaiting the two of us. We don our aprons and begin on the starter of melon and grapefruit salad with goat’s cheese. Bahija, our chef attempts to teach me how to make a rose with the skin of a tomato and after two attempts and much patience from her I make one I’m proud of. Nicky is learning the art of de-segmenting a grapefruit, much to my amusement. I pick out all the good segments and we plate up.
Next we begin our tagines, the part I have been waiting for. Bahija guides us expertly through the stages, giving us handy tips along the way. I am determined to make mine as good as last night’s and apart from the perfectly cooked egg, which takes a bit of getting used to the tagine pot, it is. She jokes that if we don’t want to eat it she will bring it home as her own creation.
Dessert is poached pear and mandarin with Ras-el-Hanout, which she explains is an Arabic blend of herbs and spices with her particular recipe containing 47 ingredients. Once we have finished cooking we go on a tour of the gardens trying all the fresh produce on the way. Jnane Tamsna grows much of their own ingredients for the restaurant and even makes their own olives and olive oil.
Our table awaits us in a little private garden where the hotel guests are dining. It is an ideal setting to enjoy the lunch we created and a bottle of cold white wine arrives to make it all that more enjoyable. As we eat I look at the other diners, who had the cheek to have their meals cooked for them, with some satisfaction. Our day at the cookery course comes to 1120 Dhs (approximately £86) all-inclusive.
Dar Moha has a reputation as the best modern Moroccan restaurant in Marrakech and Vincent assures us he has got us a good table. I thought I had seen the extent of Moorish lavishness last night, but it is taken to another level here. We are led through the restaurant to a courtyard where tables surround a swimming pool decorated with mosaic tiles. Our table is right on the end next to the Andulucian band; true to Vincent’s word it is the best table in the house.
Happy with the wine last night I play it safe and choose the Syrah of the same label. Most good restaurants give an ‘amuse bouche’, which is a small taster to tease your palette. At Dar Moha you get 17 little dishes, ranging from a shot of carrot and orange juice to aubergine with honey and almonds, bringing your taste buds on an expedition through the flavour spectrum. We force ourselves to stop eating, a hard task indeed, in order to carry on with the rest of the courses.
For starter we pick the ‘Pastilla de Pigeon’ so we can compare it to last night’s and although very good, it doesn’t quite match up. I have the ‘Serpentine de légumes au coulis de Kezbour’, which turns out to be a coil of pastry stuffed with vegetables and a herb salsa.
Dar Moha is a good example of how a tagine is just the cooking dish and what is created inside is entirely up to the imagination of the chef. I order the ‘½ Coquelet M’salallah’, which translates to Quail tagine with apricots, chickpeas and lentils. The Quail is cooked expertly and is moist, tender and melts away in my mouth, literally; I have never tasted poultry cooked so well before. My girlfriend has the ‘Tagine de loup de mer aux mosaïques de légumes’. This consists of wild Atlantic sea bass with vegetables, all delicately cooked with perfect timing. Our mains come with two types of couscous, one traditional Berber and the other Marrakech, both large enough to be a meal in themselves.
I have paced myself better tonight and there is room for dessert. We order the ‘Chakhchoukha aux pommes et pistil de saffran’ and ‘Sorbets et gluce aux fruits et aux épices’. The first consists of thin pastry discs with apples cooked in saffron and the latter is a duo of sorbets. Both, like the entire meal, echo the chef’s classical training in Switzerland married with the soul of Moroccan cooking. We finish off with mint tea and particularly strong coffee. The service is simply outstanding and the food and surroundings match. We have been treated to a truly amazing evening at ‘Michelin star’ standards all for 1320 Dhs (approximately £100). You may be able to find food this good in Europe for the same price, but never the other components that made the evening spectacular.
Breakfast at the riad consists of pancakes, toast, honey, jam, orange juice and coffee. It’s an early start because we are catching the Supratour bus south to Essaouira, on the Atlantic coast. We are staying at Riad Asmitou, another French-owned, stylishly decorated guesthouse. Essaouira, with its laidback arty feel yet still remaining a working port, is a welcomed break from Marrakech. With the port in view it’s straight to the fish stalls, where the day’s catch is displayed for you to pick. It is then weighed and grilled whilst you choose your accompaniments; all this is enjoyed on large picnic tables in the sun. The choice is large and the langoustines are trying to escape. I choose a red snapper, baby squid and calamari and then order a Moroccan salad, fries and two drinks. We negotiate a price of 150Dhs (approximately £11) and he throws in a free mackerel and small john dory. The food arrives smelling of the grill and we can taste the freshness; this is reaffirmed when a fisherman arrives with his catch, all still with rigor mortis. This is definitely the best way to eat lunch and I happily finish it all.
We go for coffee at Gelateria Dolce Fredo in the Moulay Hassan (main square) and I feel as if I could be in a piazza in Italy, helped by the exquisite coffee. The ice cream they make looks tempting so I promise to come back later.
After a day of soaking up the Essaouira atmosphere it is time for tapas at Casa Vera, and with Morocco’s proximity to Spain my expectations are great. We order sangría and it arrives loaded with fruit and a hint of rum, I had almost forgotten what sangría is supposed to taste like. The waiter suggests three tapas’ each and with his help we make our choices. The food arrives and takes up the entire table, I can’t envisage finishing this. Where to begin? I help myself to some chorizo cooked in wine and the smoky fieriness bursts into my mouth. On to the baby squid and aioli, battered this time yet still as tasty. The Manchego cheese is rich and compliments my favourite of the night, the chicken and avocado salad. No tapas would be complete without ‘Tortilla de Patatas’ and ‘Pan con Tomate’, both do not disappoint. I think it goes without saying that there is no room for dessert. The tapas here is equal to any I have had in Barcelona and the entire meal comes to 415 Dhs (approximately £32). We wander upstairs to the roof terrace bar where a band is playing, that ends up entertaining us late into the night.
We have a lazy breakfast on the riad’s roof terrace, where a mini feast is laid out. I look in amazement at the pancakes with honey and apricot jam, bread with argan oil, fruit salad, dried fruit, croissants, mint tea and orange juice. After all this, a walk along the lengthy beach is needed.
Chez Françoise offers light lunches; this is exactly what I crave right now. There is a choice of three quiches; we order one goat’s cheese and one sun-blushed tomato. Both arrive with Tzatziki (yoghurt and cucumber), Tabbouleh (cracked bulgur wheat salad), tomato salad and pumpkin puree. Everything is light and fresh and puts the spring back into what has become my slightly heavy step.
The reason we came to Essaouira, apart from to relax, is because of the Argan tree that is unique to southwest Morocco. Argan oil is extracted from the nut of the tree in a lengthy process that takes 30kg of nuts and fifteen hours of labour to produce one litre of oil. The women’s cooperatives that make the oil are highly important in sustaining the region.
I am after the culinary oil that has made it onto the menu of top restaurants across the world; my girlfriend is after the vitamin E rich beauty products that likewise are beginning to make a noise amongst women looking for the latest miracle worker. We hire a taxi to take us to Assaisse Ouzeka, a cooperative 15km away on the ‘Route de Marrakech’. As we enter we are greeted by one of the guides who gives us a taster of their argan oil with bread and Amlou (argan oil mixed with almonds and honey). The oil has a sweet hazelnut-like taste that warrants its growing culinary reputation. We are led on a tour of the work area where the women are sitting on the floor engaged in the various stages of production. She explains all the products in the shop and Nicky disappears with her whilst I stand rooted at the culinary oil section. 500ml of argan oil costs me 250Dhs (approximately £19); not a large sum when considering the labour and I am happy that the women I just saw working get a percentage of the profits. Back to town for ice cream and with thirty flavours on offer it’s a hard choice. After much debate we end up trying pistachio with After Eight and natural yoghurt with peach, all faultless.
Dinner is at the more traditional Restaurant Ferdaous, where no alcohol is served. As we walk down a dark and grimy alleyway my expectations are lowered, although as we enter they perk up with the charming atmosphere. Fresh bread, argan oil and good olives are brought to our table and as we pick away I wonder how I lived without argan oil before this trip. After tasting Nicky’s Harira on the first night I have to order my own and I am not disappointed; it comes with lemon but no dates this time. We have been impressed by the quality of the avocadoes in Morocco and with this in mind Nicky orders the avocado salad and again the fresh flavours hit the right notes. For her main course Nicky orders the sea bream tagine, which is more stew like than the technical brilliance at Dar Moho but still a highly enjoyable dish. I choose the mutton and almond tagine that comes on the bone and full of dense flavour that lamb just can’t offer. For dessert we order orange, date & rose water salad and a selection of Moroccan pastries. The salad is refreshing and acts as a good palette cleanser between the different pastries we are negotiating over. As we leave, the alleyway looks brighter and my wallet is only lighter 250 Dhs (approximately £19).
The following day we head back to Marrakech and venture through the markets to buy the host of Moroccan items I now can’t live without. The choice for lunch in the souqs is snail soup or sheep’s head; I choose the latter, much to the amusement of the stallholder. It is served in a thick stew with chickpeas; being a brawn lover I have no problem eating the head and quite enjoy this tasty delicacy. We walk back to the riad laden with our purchases: tagines, silver teapots, spices, olive oil and rose water. I am glad I waited until the last day to shop; the stallholders said I haggle like a Berber.
Vincent claims that Le Pavillon is the best French restaurant in Marrakech; as we arrive we are greeted at the end of a passageway by a large man in a dark robe who leads us to the restaurant, as if we truly are visiting the Holy Grail. Once again we seem to have the best table in the house; I don’t know if this is just a coincidence or if Vincent really is a man of many connections. The dining area is in the central courtyard of the riad and has that outdoors-indoor feeling about it.
The wine list consists of French and Moroccan wines, but I stick local and order the Merlot de Siroua, yet again another fine example of Moroccan wine. The waiter lists the additions and translates a few words we don’t understand on the menu. Nicky orders the wild mushroom tartlet from the specials and it is tantalising and earthy, with a good proportion of Ceps, Chanterelles and Morels. I choose the ‘Fricassée d’écrevisses d’Atlas, fondue de poireaux’, which is quite possibly the best thing I have ever eaten. I know this is a bold statement, but I’m sticking to it. The crayfish bisque is rich and intense and contrasts well with the character of the crayfish chunks inside; whilst the crunch from the fried leeks play with the dissolving bubbles in the crayfish foam. All this leads to a dish with intense, yet complimentary flavours that bring your mouth on an adventure through textures.
Nicky orders ‘Magret de canard rôti, coing, endives braisées’ for her main course, which leaves me with the choice of beef or chicken because they have run out of sweetbreads and I had fish for starters. I order ‘Fillet de boeuf aux oignons nouveaux, pomme de terre’ that is an extreme let down after my starter. The fillet is dry and I don’t know whether the quality of beef is poor, but I will take an educated guess that it has been put through the oven, an inexcusable treatment of a rare steak. Nicky’s duck slightly makes up for my disappointment; it is moist and has the classical matching of sweet quince and braised endives.
For dessert we order the ‘Darioles au chocolat’ and the ‘Crème brulée aux éspices d’orient’. The chocolate fondant explodes in a fountain of warm chocolate as I prise it open, whilst the crème brulée is enhanced by the hint of spices. Needless to say we finish them both. We order mint tea and the waiter pours it with the teapot at least a metre above the glass, something I have begun practising. Our entire meal comes to 1300 Dhs (approximately £100) and is worth it, for the memory of my starter alone.
Morocco offers great culinary delights as well as a taste of that luxurious life we all dream of. I have eaten like a king and discovered an appetite I didn’t know existed; unfortunately, I booked return flights. I for one have lived too much luxury for one week and am now off to the gym for a couple of months until my next tour, or perhaps I will just go make a tagine and maybe some mint tea.
Riad Dar Tayib: 00212 44 383010, www.dartayib-riadmarrakech.com
Al Fassia: 00212 24 383839
Jnane Tamsna: 00212 24 329423, www.jnanetamsna.com
Dar Moha: 00212 24 386400, www..darmoha.ma
Supratour: 00212 24 435525
Riad Asmitou: 00212 24 473726
Casa Vera: 00212 24 783105
Restaurant Ferdaous: 00212 24 473655
Le Pavillon: 00212 24 387040, www.restaurantlepavillon.com
Ryan air Flies to Marrakech from London Luton and Bristol; return fares from £98, www.ryanair.com
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