5 Places To Eat In Marrakesh

I love Moroccan food. It's a mixture between Arabic, Berber and Mediterranean cuisine and it uses very diverse flavors and spices, from citrus to cinnamon, from saffron to coriander, from cumin to chili peppers. You'll find fruits, vegetables, olive and argan oils, bread, couscous and different varieties of meat (chicken, seafood, beef, goat, lamb, camel). One traditional dish is tajine, a popular stew with vegetables and meat (you can also find the vegetarian version), slow cooked in a cone shaped earthenware pot. It's really nice and flavored, including cumin, turmeric, ginger, saffron. You'll also be served "Berber whiskey" everywhere you go - that's just green tea with mint and sugar - delicious, though.

However, many blogs mention you should be really careful when going out to eat in Morocco. Hygiene (or lack of), unfamiliar bacteria, unbottled water, unsanitary food storage etc can cause more bathroom visits than you'd like. Knowing myself to be rather sensitive when it comes to these issues, I got ready a month before the trip and started taking probiotics. Now, I'm going to be honest. The boyfriend and I also bought some Absolut Vodka from the duty free shop before taking off and, like utter alcoholics, began each day with a solid gulp. Like, before breakfast even. Not sure if it was that, or the fact that we used hand sanitizer before meals, or the probiotics, or just the fact that things aren't so bad... dunno. But I was fine for the entire stay in Morocco, except for one evening when I sampled several local beers (and my stomach started gurgling). Yeah, but about that in a different post.

So what are the places where I ate, I liked the food, and I also got away diarrhea-free?

1. Jema el-fnaa Yeah, we started the Marrakesh trip on pro mode. The very evening we got settled in, we immediately went to eat in the market. Jema el-fnaa becomes very lively at night, street food vendors gather up, set up tables, barbecues, steaming pots and sweets, right there on the street. There's a great variety of stalls to choose from: some have fish, some have goat head, many sell couscous and tajine. We picked a stall that seemed to have more local customers than tourists - always a good sign - and ordered. The food was cooked right there in front of us, in huge pots. Bread was kept in crates on the floor, they took some - by hand - and served it to us. It was about 4 - 5 Eur per meal. It tasted OK and I felt fine the following morning. Win-win.

2. Cafe Clock The next day we went to try camel burger (more about it in this post), which didn't taste too different from a regular beef burger, if you ask me. The camel burger (around 9 Eur) is the specialty most people want to try from the menu of Cafe Clock, but I also ordered a vegetable wrap and some appetizers with mixed vegetables, spiced olives and fresh bread, which were excellent. The atmosphere in this cafe is great, they have a nice view out on the terrace and apparently they also host workshops and cooking classes. even more reasons to visit.

3. Kui-Zin

We loved this place so much we actually went there twice. It was recommended to us by an elderly British couple while on a day trip and we thought we'd give it a shot. The place is so worth it. They have a beautiful rooftop terrace with a pretty view of the city (especially at dusk), live music in the evenings, great food, good serving and a couple of friendly cats. I can testify to the fact that the lemon chicken (around 8 Eur) and the parsley flavored olives were incredible.

4. Black Chich

We found this place wandering around the streets of the Medina and getting a bit tired of couscous and tajine, towards the end of our trip. We saw the menu on display outside and decided we'd wait for them to open for lunch. They serve Berber, Senegalese and Egyptian dishes (around 8-9 Eur per dish).

We ordered Fatayas (Senegalese appetizers with spicy beef and tomato sauce), Seffa (which is a Berber dish with chicken, orange blossom, cinammon, sweet almonds and noodles) and Mafe Yappou Nague (Senegalese dish with beef cooked in peanut sauce). The flavor combinations were surprising, but we were really impressed.

5. Nomad

Nomad is a fancy place. Full of tourists, it's sought after for the modern interpretation of the traditional Moroccan dishes and for the sophisticated deserts. The Saffron scented Moroccan Date cake (around 6.5 Eur) and the cauliflower couscous with almonds were pretty nice, but the place is packed and, all in all, not so cozy. We went there right after lunch time and could still hardly find a table. When we were eventually sat down, we were almost touching elbows with the couple eating at the table next to us. And when one of us wanted to go to the bathroom, it literally required the other couple to move their table so the person could get out. This place might be worth it if you can find a time when it's less crowded.