Casablanca Restaurants

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There are many small eateries/sandwich bar type places around town and the city centre - the locals are in the know for where is good and where they are happy to go to - if you are out and about and you see an eatery with a lot of locals eating then you can be pretty sure its a good place to grab something to eat - and the price will be good - Ive experienced this many times when with my Moroccan connections and would agree that by comparison in the western world many of these places we wouldnt go into as we would think theyre either 'cheap and nasty', unclean, or lots of men or people staring at you as if something is wrong - but its none of these....take my word for it and go with the flow and enjoy travelling and living with inside knowledge!!

The general eat out is a sandwich - what we would call a bagette with meat and salad stuffed into it - but thats what they are called in most parts around Morocco and between the bread and the ingredients everything about them is more delicious than if you ate the same back home believe me!

Brochettes - ie grilled cubes of meat: beef, mutton or even liver or kidneys is a choice, or kefta which is fried mince meat, with salad added - you can actually think up anything and ask for it - a can of tuna, sardines, chicken - see what you feel like and what is in stock - add salad and theyll put a bit of mayonnaise on top and throw some frites/chips on and wrap it up in paper for you....voila delicious and can cost as low as 20 dirham ie £1.50/2 euro!

Either sit down - a waiter will come along and wipe your table but you probably have to get the sandwich yourself - but not always - he will ask if you want something to drink - coca cola, sprite, pommes orange (is fanta), citron is lemon

We ate at this place last month in March in some sunshine - wind was a little cool but it was nice and off we went to see the next on the agenda!

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My Casablanca -- Paris flight was delayed due to the Air France strike. We were issued drink coupons to be claimed at someplace in the airport. Took me a long time to find the right place, and was hungry (hadn't eaten since about 0300, breakfast on the Air France flight from Shanghai) so I bought a chawarma as well. It was tasty enough, but airport food being what it is, it cost a whopping 45 MAD which was more than twice what it would've cost on Rue Chaouia beside Marche Centrale.
Coke and Sprite bottle labels were in Arabic as well as the usual English!

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There're a number of restaurants specialising in roast chicken and chawarmas on Rue Chaouia beside Marche Centrale. I picked one that looked reasonably clean and had a healthy (literally as well as figuratively) number of diners. Erm it was a little strange, but I think most if not all the diners at various restaurants were male.
I ordered a quarter of roast chicken, and also a lamb chawarma. What I didn't know was that these items would come with side dishes, so I ended up having too much to eat! I wish the person who took my order (you state your order to one of the waiters hanging around in front before finding yourself a place to sit).
The "unexpected" items were a basket of bread, a plate of olives in oil (not sure what else was in it), as well as 2 baskets of fries! I barely finished any bread, though I managed to choke down most of the fries and a bit of the olive/oil dip.
The quarter of roast chicken came pretty quickly, but the chawarma much later.
The chicken was tasty on the outside but got a bit boring and dry on the inside. I tried to finish as much as I could, but had to order a bottle of Coke in order to wash it down, felt much better that way. There was water in a pitcher on the table, but no other diner was drinking that, so I stayed away from it. Maybe that water was used for washing hands, or otherwise unclean/unsafe to drink? I never got to know the answer.
The chawarma was reasonable, though I was already pretty stuffed from the chicken and whatever else came earlier, so I couldn't enjoy it as much. I wish I could've done a takeaway for this to eat for breakfast or even supper, but I wasn't sure if the staff would understand me, so I persuaded myself to eat as much as I could.
There was a black-and-white kitty slinking around the tables looking for scraps. Thankfully it helped to eat a lot of my roast chicken when I got tired of it, but it didn't like the bread, and it turned its nose up at onions which I picked out of my chawarma. I don't think it liked the lamb very much either.
Quarter of roast chicken and the lamb chawarma cost 20 MAD each (with trimmings), and the bottle of Coke cost 5 MAD.

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This restaurant is located behind Marche Centrale. It was recommended by the guidebook as well as the staff at Hotel Gallia for Moroccan food. However unfortunately I was seriously counting pennies when I was there, I didn't want to be stuck without enough for the train ride back to the airport the next morning at 0700! So sadly I could only stand outside, take photos of the menu and salivate on my own. :(

Cool stylish hotel (Novotel Casa City Centre) restaurant. Friendly, efficient staff, a good menu and good food.

Only problem was the price - DH250 for a main course and 2 small beers!

Verging on the rip off, but let's just say you can get better value for money quite easily!

I would have tried outside the hotel but I'd had a long day and a tricky arrival at the airport, so just wanted to be fed quietly.

Favorite Dish: Lamb tajine with lemons.

The café offers a big seafood menu as well as a goat cheese salad, foie gras, steak and many local dishes for dinner. The desert menu includes not only local fruits and dishes but good American favourites such as brownies and cheesecake. For lunch again the American flavour is brought in with hamburgers and chili along with the local tagines and fish dishes. It is recommended to book.

The restaurant is open for lunch from 12.00noon to 3.00pm and from 6.00pm – 1.00am for dinner daily. Interestingly, the owner has named her company ‘The Usual Suspects” company.

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Following the huge success of the movie “Casablanca” and Rick’s Café that features in it, someone finally opened a restaurant with the same name (since there never was a Rick’s Café). It was opened in 2004 by a former US diplomat in Morocco, Kathy Kriger with an aim to recreate the famous ‘Gin Joint’ bar. The building is an old mansion with a central courtyard which butts up to the walls of the Ancient Medina. There are many features, both highly decorative and architectural which feature in the movie and of course an authentic 1930’s Pleyel piano which constantly plays “As Time Goes By”. Sunday’s are set aside for jam sessions from travelling musicians and local talent.

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Restaurants in Casablanca still carry a French influence and can be found in top restaurants.. Of course the Moroccan Tagine made up mainly of lamb or chicken is very popular. There are also man other international cuisines to choose from.