Local Cuisine, Marrakesh

We did not eat here as we decided to save a few bucks and enjoy a nice night in Casablanca but if we went back this is a place we would stop in. It has that old world classy feel to it. In fact after a night in Rick's Cafe in Casa I think this place could go toe to toe with it.

Favorite Dish: If you do not want to pay for dinner then stop in for one drink and enjoy yourself here

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Located right at one corner of Jamma al Fina, this restaurant has good view of the square and from its top floor a nice view over it.

Favorite Dish: During the course of one week stay in Marrakech, one thing was a bit strange, in all the places where the tourists were eating, the meals were more or less uniformly priced, you eat for around 100-125 dirhams (10-12 euros) per meal. The upscale restos are as expensive as Paris, with the main dish alone in the 20-25 euro range but you see very few tourists there. Only once did I encounter a resto where there were equal number of moroccans and tourists dining: Chez Sam in Essaouira.
The decor at Chez Chagrumi is pleasant, the food is average and the service is average. but the view is what one comes here for.
For one week, I ate nothing but Moroccan food and at each meal, I was already looking forward to my next one. In general the food is good, differs a little between places.
I ate Pastilla here and it was nothing special, just average

I have eaten at Dar Naja't Kitchen many times while staying there. The food is fantastic and freshly cooked and the service is excellent....the staff are really friendly. They offer a good selection of starters, including fresh prawns. various salads and individually prepared vegetable dishes. The spiced aubergines and sautéed cauliflower were really tasty!!.....all served with fresh bread... I have had a few different main meals.... including a really delicious lamb tagine, and also an amazing fish stew with tomatoes, onions and moroccan spices. The food is served up on the terrace with candlelit tables... and I love the relaxed, chilled atmosphere there....the back ground music is great!! Dar Najat's Kitchen is the best place to eat in Marrakech!!

Favorite Dish: Fish stew with tomatoes onions and moroccan spices......freshly cooked and delicious!!

This restaurant is part of Riad Dar Najat, the food that they served was traditional Moroccan food. There was a choice of set menu's, all authentic Moroccan dishes. We chose the chicken tagine, it all began with the starters, there were four different vegatable dishes given to us with breads, this was so filling and it was just the starters. Then the chicken tagine was given to us, WOW, it was cooked to perfection and was just melting away in our mouths, the spices were truely brilliant and just tasted like authentic food.

The ambience of the place was really romantic, there were candles lit and the riad itself was very tastefully decorated. We had a choice of where to sit and we opted for the terrace, they also had a private room or indoor courtyard if preferred.

The staff were very good and the service we received was first class.

The whole meal cost us £50 for two people, all in all it was very good value for money.

Favorite Dish: The chicken tagine, the spices were just perfect and the meat was so tender.

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Ive been taken here a number of times with my Moroccan family connections , Ive brought friends here and I come here whenever Im in Marrakech on my own - its very popular with locals as it has good food at good prices - and its right here in the main square so its handy to all the action and yet the prices are nothing like many of the surrounding places that take opportunity of the tourists and the drawcard of the Djma Elfna.
(the famed nght stalls of the Djmaa are okay if you look for a stall that is obviously popular with the locals but when you add the cost of several individual dishes together plus let them add bread and olives which you then have to pay for then Cafe Toubkal can be an even better deal, less smokey and less noisy if youre wanting a bit of a break away from all the noise)

It might look a little rough and ready but its always been quick, clean and low priced - and the food is fine!

Favorite Dish: Salade Nicoise is great - the coffee/noss noss is great/ the tagines are great (except for the mincemeat balls /kefta tagine were not so good here...maybe less expensive fatty mince? love kefta ie grilled mince patties but not so much in a tagine unless they are better quality meat) - the Harira is a good buy - and the breakfasts which Ive had here a number of times of pancakes, orange juice, coffee are great! (about 20 dirham - £1.50 for all 3)

The thing is you can have a 3 course meal here all for only 45 dirham - £3-£4!!

JAN 2012 - just eaten here again to bring some friends who was on a budget just as much as we were! and the only chance of getting to see Marrakech before their plane after driving up from Taroudant was to park, walk through Djma and eat here at Cafe Toubkal - we got tables upstairs with views over the square - for 55 dirham she shared chicken cousous, salade morocaine, mint tea and a pastry with her 8 year old, my beau had a steak and salad and frites for 35 dirham and I had a pastilla and noss noss for 27 dirham (and his salad and frites ha ha!) still excellent place to eat!

We had drinks and coffee on the roof terrace and in one of the lounges in Yacout, which is one of the most spectacular-looking restaurants I've ever seen. It's contained in a palazzo-style house on a very unassuming pedestrian side street in the medina. After you walk through the door in the wall to get into the restaurant, you can see why this is one of the most celebrated places in Marrakesh. Even if you don't go to eat there, try to get in for drinks just so you can wander around its four floors and roof terrace, all of which are filled with gorgeous furniture and fountains.

If you take the time to find this restaurant you will be rewarded. The minute you are seated in your cushion strewn booth, either out of the sun or away from a chilly evening air, you can relax and lap up the atmosphere. We visited in February so the cloaked staff gave us a heater and additional blankets to keep warm once the sun went down. The menu, written on 2 large blackboards, was brought to our table and explained very competently in English. Service was slick and the meal wonderful. The fact that this was an alcohol free experience made no difference to us. At the end of the night the staff made sure we knew how to find our way back to the square and were quite willing to show us the way. Admittedly this was not one of their busiest nights but we thought it was a nice touch.
Read the menu for yourself at website below.

Favorite Dish: Read the menu for yourself, at website below, everything tasted great. Duo chocolate & candied apple dessert wonderful.

Usually, I like to find places to eat that are busy. If lots are people are eating there, it must be ok is my logic. I had read about this place and it sounded good. This place probably had the slowest servive I have ever seen. Not that we had anywhere special to go, but when you are ready to eat....you are ready to eat.
There was only one other table occupied until we arrived, which makes you think....hmm..we will probably be served fairly quickly. Big mistake. Maybe 45 minutes after ordering we were served, which was almost ok, as we sat outside and could watch the world go by.
Three out of four of us were quite happy with our meal. Steak au poivre, veal and chicken were good, but the carbonara was very bland.

Favorite Dish: I can only speak as I find, and the steak with peppar sauce was good. slightly on the neuvo cuisine side of 'size wise', but very good.

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This place wasn't just a restaurant. If you enjoy the culture and the music, it gave you so much. The balance was right for the tourist experience and an authentic taste of Morocco, both in food and live entertainment.
It's very easy to overlook the the architecture of a restaurant, but this used to be a palace. The attention to detail on the tiles and carving is worth a visit in its own rights.
The service was superb.
This is not the cheapest night out you can find, with set menus between 390-500MD, but it is well worth it.
Our starter of Moroccan salad (and i am not even a salad eater) was the best I had ever had), I post a photo of the simple yet tasty options. Followed by a meat dish and then fruit dessert.
Drinks were typical prices for hotels/restaurants, small beers for 35MD, vodka at 55MD.
Entertainment was good. There were three groups singing/playing traditional Moroccan/Berber music, belly dancers and a lady dancing with a tray of lit candles on her head, (and by the way you, you can smoke in there).
Well worth the price for the entertainment alone.

Favorite Dish: Moroccan salad. I hate salad, but it is a feast of choice, so many dishes including several dips. As a starter, I could eat it all night.

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I have to admit that I'm nervous about this dinner. I've arranged a reservation at Al Baraka Restaurant sight-unseen over the Internet for my travel group. Planning a fancy meal for people at a place you've never personally been is always sketchy at best. I spoke to the manager through e-mails and established a firm price of 25 Euros ($33 USD) per head for a set menu plus the cost of drinks. I told him there would be 15 of us, but after cancellations, there are now only 9. That worries me as well because the price could change as a result of our party shrinking. Also concerning me is that folks may have a hard time finding this restaurant. Although just steps away from the Djemma el-Fna and visible from it, people can get distracted in the plaza's evening chaos and easily miss a doorway. I made sure to send everyone a map in advance. Anyway, I hope it's nice.
Walking downstairs into the restaurant I see a beautiful Moroccan rug on the floor leading to a large open-air courtyard containing palm trees, flowers, a gorgeous tiled fountain, tables with linen, lit candles, hanging ornamental lamps, sofas with pillows. Whoa, it's an oasis is here! I exhale a huge sigh of relief. A maitre'd greets me and I tell him I have reservations. "One moment," he says. He departs briefly and returns with the manager. The big, smiling man shakes my hand firmly, "Ah, Mr. Edward--welcome! We have been expecting you!" He leads me and my three friends to a corner table--tucked away, private and cozy. "The rest of our part is still coming," I tell the man, "but I'm sorry--there's only 9 of us now, not 15." He chuckles, "This is no problem. No problem at all! ...Drinks?"
As the rest of my group trickles in, everyone has the same comment, "Wow Ed, this is nice!!" I beam with pride, pretending I knew what I was doing all along.
Over the next 4 hours, we are served a veritable feast fit for a sultan! ...Moroccan salads, pickles, olives, bread, beets, lemon tangine chicken, beef-almond-date tangine, fresh fruits of all varieties, wine, mint tea, pastries, cookies. Food just keeps coming and coming and we begin laughing at the extravagance and quantity of it it all. It's all very good but my favourite has to be these really salty pickled green peppers; I've never tasted anything quite like them.
Traditional Moroccan music has been playing all night by two live musicians and I enjoy it tremendously (with the exception of one annoying instrument which makes a crashing sound--luckily it was only used for two songs.) As we're enjoying desert, a dark-haired belly-dancer with sultry eyes comes to our table and performs. She is as scrumptious to look at as the food was to eat! As she dances, and flexes her stomach, my friend Allan can't help but exclaim aloud, "Oh my God!," every now and then.
As the night comes to a close, I can tell we're all in drowsy-dreamlike states--hypnotized by the music, bellies full, heads warm and fuzzy with wine... The manager asks how everything was and everyone compliments him and shakes his hand. He charges us exactly what we'd agreed on--25 Euros per person plus extra for the four bottles of wine. We leave him with a generous tip for the staff and the nine of us venture happily out into the moonlight Marrakeshian night.