Marrakech: An overview - Part 21

Moroccan Food, Restaurants and Nightlife.

As the sub-title suggests in this section I will try to cover the food and evening entertainment you can find in Marrakech. It ranges, as it most places, from 5 star to zero star it’s fairly easy to see which from a quick look.

Moroccan cuisine in general mostly consists of the staples of meat, chicken and lamb and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and couscous. The best known Moroccan dish must be the tagine, but there are other and in this section we will mention a few. However, the real fun in visiting a new area is to explore and try new things; in this location, you will not be disappointed.

Couscous is a staple food item across most of North Africa, couscous is made up of tiny grains of semolina that are cooked by steaming, this causes them to swell and then turn light and fluffy. It is usually eaten with a spicy, harissa flavoured broth, and served up with either or both a steamed vegetables and some type of meat.


Tajines are something that has travelled the world over. They are cooked slowly at low temperatures in a clay pot with a cone-shaped lid. Tajines typically combine meat with fruits but the ingredients for these dishes can include any foodstuff that braises well, such as fish, beef, dried fruits, olives and vegetables.

In general the main varieties of tajine that you will come across are the ones below. This is because time has proved that these combination of ingredients work well together.

Lamb is one of the most popular meats for a tajine and the four main variations are: - Lamb, prune and roast almonds where the sliced almonds add crunch to the sticky consistency of the prunes. A lamb, onions and almonds version which is one of the best savoury lamb tajines. You will find lamb and dates are widely used when there is a French influence on the cuisine. A dish with lamb and artichokes works well as the caramelised artichokes blend with the lamb. The final pairing is a lamb and pear, it is here that the pear all but melts to the overall dish.

When Veal is the main meat then there tends to be two main options. These are either Veal or green peas with added saffron and ginger or Veal and quince for those who like a mixture of sweet and sour tastes.

Beef is most often teamed up with fennel and peas and this makes an extremely tasty tajine.

A Kefta tajine is when small balls of spicy minced meat are slow cooked in a tomato sauce.

Fish is sometimes used but you need to be somewhere that you know the fish is fresh.

Continued in part 22