We can’t leave Marrakesh without talking about the food. Morocco stands in the very crossroads of Africa and Europe, a diversity that is reflected in its culture, architecture, and food. Typical Moroccan dishes combine spicy and sweet, sour and salty. Sweet fruits (quince, dates, prunes) are often added to meat dishes along with local spices, seasonings, and aromatic herbs give the traditional dishes its distinctive flavor.

The food in Marrakesh is a delicious, delightful, tagine of influences from Berber, Arabic, Jewish, Andalusian, African, and Maghrebi cultures. Walking through markets you will find a huge array of colorful spices, herbs, street food stalls and aromas, flavoring for its wonderful food.

Most people know Moroccan food for its heavy reliance on delicious spices such as saffron, turmeric, cumin, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, paprika, ginger and fennel just to name a few. There are also striking similarities with the Mediterranean diet in terms of the meats, fish, fruits and vegetables used in cooking. It consistently ranks with French and Italian cuisines around the world.

We ate at Dar Marjana which “combines authentic history, refined gastronomy, and a warm Moroccan atmosphere to offer an immersive and unforgettable culinary experience.” (from their website.) They are what we would call a dinner and entertainment experience — midway through dinner, a pair of Berbers joined us and began to sing, play drum, and a stringed instrument. Later, a pair of belly dancers moved through the tables, doing their thing. We found the music to be the best, as the dancing felt a bit contrived (Lisa wasn’t sure it was authentic, it may have been the LED-lighted “fairy wings” that led to the doubt.)

As was so often the case in Marrakech, the exterior is unassuming, even a bit daunting. Once through the front door, you move through a dark passage to another door. During opening hours the entrance is manned by a guard who respectfully escorts you down the now candlelit passage through the front door into a huge open courtyard with a low fountain, palms, banana trees, and all manner of foliage backlit by subtle lighting.

They serve one of four set menus, and alcohol is available. The largest menu, Marjana, includes several small plates of salads, three mains, and a dessert; it is accompanied by a (non-alcoholic cocktail, water, wine, digestif, and mint tea). The Discovery menu is only two mains, and no digestif. The smallest is the “Light” menu, which had a choice of two starters, one main, and no drinks included. It was the only one that offered Briwates (briouates). The choices for mains included Pigeon Triad (a specialty of the house), Chicken or Vegetable Bastilla, Pickled Lemon Farm Chicken, Lamb/or Veal Tajine with prunes and apricots or Seasonal Vegetables, Makfoul Tajine (specialty of Marrakech), Vegetable Tajine, or Royal Couscous. Desserts were a choice of Almond Pastilla, Orange and Cinnamon Salad, or
Moroccan Pastries (cookies).

It was lovely, tasty, and although we wouldn’t go again on our own, we would gladly join friends to enjoy the experience. To be clear, the food was great, although nothing particularly stands out.

Le Trou au Mur is described as chic, laid-back, and intimate, and that was not at all our experience. Perhaps because we were there at lunch rather than dinner, it was simply a nice meal on an outdoor terrace. It’s menu is far more Mediterranean, than Moroccan, and everything was delicious.

We shared a chicken and spinach filo pastry cigar, a salad made of carrots, cabbage, almonds and beetroot served with a fresh ginger and tomato sauce, and al-dente green beans with garlic, almonds and preserved lemon. It was a delicious lunch with fresh flavors and bright textures, perfectly done.

Most of our other meals were at the hotel, in their Pavillion restaurant (terrace, pool side) and at TFAYA Brasserie. TFAYA was a fascinating experience but not in the “ooo such exotic food in a new and mysterious land!” kind of way (although there was some of that); no, it was more in the “first diners on the first night of a whole new restaurant concept” kind. Apparently they had literally put the finishing touches on a new menu, by their new chef, for their flagship restaurant, and as is typical for Americans (or at least us) dining outside of the US, we were the first reservation of the evening. Because of this, service that was probably solicitous on a normal night was amped up to desperate-for-mom’s-approval level. We were checked in on after every dish by at least our server; several times it was the restaurant manager and at least once it was the chef. It wasn’t every 3 minutes and it never got annoying, but it definitely made for an unusual experience.

There were many small plates, and we didn’t exactly take notes, so to the best of our memory, we had: briouates (shrimp, cheese, and spinach with cheese), crispy prawns with a smoked bell pepper hummus, seafood pastilla with an aioli sauce, lamb shoulder cooked 8 hours Hargma-style with white bean hummus, and Doukkali couscous with lamb and vegetables. Our dessert was “Orange”: madeleine-style cookie, orange jelly (a kind of gummy-like candy dipped in sugar), and carrot cardamom sorbet. We were offered coffee and, when we declined, given a plate of “Moroccan Pastries” (cookies). It was a lot.

Everything was delicious, but the lamb shoulder (which they were very proud of) was very fatty and had an unpleasant mouthfeel as a result. The dessert was very pretty, but too much sweet after such a large meal. So what did they tell them when they asked? Mostly that our meal was amazing, although there were a couple of oddities.

Pavillion’s menu was a riotous blend of Mediterranean, Peruvian (!), and familiar. Stand out dishes included the Confit Lamb Shoulder With Shiitake Chimichurri Sauce And Truffled Cauliflower Steak, Creamy burrata, confit tomatoes, crunchy Greek vegetables, Spider crab meat, charred avocado, yuzu and ginger vinaigrette, Prawn Ha kao, vegetable gyozas. We also enjoyed their Omakase nigiri, which included Tuna with a ponzu salsa, salmon with a anticuchera salsa, and tiger prawns with a abura sauce and their Selection Pavillon, which was lobster with limeño sauce and saffron aioli, wagyu Beef with chimichurri sauce and caviar, and a flambéed sardine with lemon confit dashi mayo. Literally nothing was bad, it all was good or great.

Now seems like a good time to explain what some of these dishes are.

Tagine
When people think of Moroccan cuisine, tagine is usually one of the first dishes they think of. Tagine is a slow cooked stew of meat, with a variety of fresh fruity ingredients such as apples, apricots, pears, raisins, quinces, olives, dates and prunes as well as vegetables. Typical spices include ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, saffron, cumin and paprika, and additional flavors such as honey and nuts are also typically added. The tagine is the clay pot this dish is cooked in.

Briwat (briouat)
Briwat are scrumptiously sweet, stuffed, triangle-shaped pastry turnovers that have been deep-fried. Stuffed with meat and cheese with some simple seasonings (we most often got them in trios of meat, cheese, and vegetables), locals usually dip them in warm honey before eating.

Bastilla (B’stila)
Bastilla is a savory-sweet meat pie with a mix of sweet and salty flavors in a multi-layered phyllo dough. Traditionally, the filling consisted of pigeon meat and cinnamon-toasted almonds, seasoned with various spices such as saffron, cinnamon, and fresh coriander. Today it’s more often chicken.

Couscous
Couscous is a versatile side dish made from semolina and water, a bit like rice but consists of thousands of tiny, steamed balls of wheat. It’s a staple ingredient in much of Northern Africa and is typically served in a stew with vegetables and spices. It can be served as a side dish or a main couscous dish is also quite common.

Pastilla (Pastella)
Pastilla is a meat or seafood pie in Maghrebi cuisine made with warqa dough, which is similar to phyllo. Once baked, the pie is topped with a decorative lattice design made with cinnamon and caster sugar. Warqa sheets are made by daubing a wad of dough against a hot, flat pan called a tobsil, which leaves a paper-thin layer of dried dough on the surface of the pan. The pastilla stuffing, which can be prepared in advance, is arranged in layers. The first layer is made of pieces of shredded poultry meat that have been sautéed with herbs and spices, the second layer is an egg mixture, and the third and final layer consists of ground toasted almonds mixed with caster sugar and ground cinnamon. The individual pastry leaves and the assembled pastilla are brushed with clarified butter, while the powdered sugar and cinnamon top design can be enhanced with the addition of almond paste.

Marrakesh can feel overwhelming, especially if it’s your first time in: Africa, a country with a State run religion, or a country with a bargaining culture. For us, it was all three.

So we reached out to a tour company, With Locals, for assistance. With Locals specializes in connecting visitors with local guides for interesting and unique travel experiences. All tours are private, no flags or audio guides, and the local always asks what you’re interested in and will change the official itinerary to accommodate your preferences — and especially nice aspect that we took advantage of on both tours we did.

Our first tour was Treasures of Marrakech: Souks and Artisans Tour with Ouidad. It was about 3 hours of utter delight. Ouidad shepherded us through the streets and maze of the Souk and Medina with authority and charm. She was funny and respectful and unerringly took us to all of the artisans still producing ancient crafts using traditional techniques. She watched out for our safety — from wheeled vehicles more than thieves — and was a perfect ambassador between our naivety and the respectable artists we met. We had questions about being a woman in a Muslim country and she was frank about what Morocco is doing well and how future reforms were being discussed. We were shown woodworkers, creating sinuous shapes both abstract and functional (and really regret not getting that carved bowl.) An ancient man played a sitar-like instrument and sang Berber songs. We watched the stoking of e fire warming a hamman and heard how he was the last of his family line; there was no one who would keep doing this job when he stopped. Slipping through stacks of wood drying for the fire, we came to an eatery where two men were pulling a man-high clay pot out of a firepit in preparation for the coming lunch crowd. A man whittled cedar pieces into ornaments with his feet (yes, really) and insisted we take one as a gift. We drank mint tea as a wealth of rugs in a hundred varieties were unfurled before us by a beautifully tall man while another told us the meanings of the patterns. A leather shoemaker laughed at my interest and gracefully turned to a woman almost drooling over what she saw. We walked all over the central “old town” and ended in a tiny alley where locals were having their lunches prepared at tiny counters full of grilled fish, flavored ices, fresh baked breads, and mountains of fresh fruit and vegetables. It was a perfect place to put together a picnic.

The next day we were taken by private car all around on the Highlights & Hidden Gems of Marrakech by Hassan. We’d seen some of the typical sites on our tour the previous day, so he created a much more eclectic visit than typical. This was a day of stories, of places where we saw the community ties the locals have with one another. Peeking through a window of a saint’s tomb, famous for his ability to bring fertility to married women, we saw several women sleeping on piles of rugs, asking for his blessing on their wombs. Stepping though an unassuming doorway, we found ourselves in the courtyard of a mosque, just finishing its midday service. Along one wall men, thin and ill-dressed, were waiting patiently. As the service finished, people streamed out, most into a kitchen across the courtyard but some to the waiting men. Within minutes, it was clear that the men were being given water and basic medical treatment while waiting for the huge platters of couscous and other foodstuffs coming out of the kitchen . . . and from people in the surrounding community. Hassan explained that this happened every Friday after the midday service, that Islam has a strong culture of charity and assistance. It was moving to see people who themselves had little giving to those who had less. Hassan was friendly, knowledgeable and informative as he explained everything as we went, telling us about the history of the city and important people and why things were built as they were. He was enthusiastic and passionate about the history and architecture of Marrakesh, patiently answering our questions.

We would 100% book with WithLocals again in future travels.

There are some aspects of Marrakesh that feel like Venice, although the two cities are vastly different. Each boasts of a rich history rooted within a strong foundation of trade, proud people descended from multiple distinctly different cultural backgrounds, crumbling beauty, and twisting, winding passages, akin more to warrens than streets.

The similarities pretty much end there.

Venice is a place where the different cultures have co-existed, inter-married, and re-imagined themselves so thoroughly that they have become themselves, Venetians. With its lack of access to motor vehicles, it’s a profoundly quiet city always held within the ever-changing arms of the sea. Venice, in my memories, has a softness, a kind of permanent sfumato.

Marrakesh is all hard lines and noise. The smart visitor walks about with a heightened awareness of the many wheeled vehicles barreling as fast as possible from one place to another, with no regard for traffic lines, colors, or rules. Parents hold children standing behind them on scooters, elegantly burqa‘d women with designer sunglasses and gloves weave in and out of traffic, young men in rubber sandals perch on donkey carts full of produce bound for the medina, and helmets are rarely seen anywhere. Even the tea seller moves faster than other walkers, stopping only when a shopkeeper lifts a languid hand, then deftly pouring tea into a waiting mug from a vacuum flask adding sugar, and handing it over at almost the same moment as accepting the required coin.

Here, one of the largest souks in the world is a true labyrinth of streets and stores offering everything from the handmade to cheap factory produced, sometimes in the same place. Paying any attention can have you surrounded by eager sellers in a heartbeat. Fortunately, a “no” (laa in Arabic, or non in French) is acceptable (if a bit abrupt, add shukran — thank you to be more polite). In theory, the souk is pedestrian-only, but locals move through on bicycles, scooters, and small motorcycles. Goods are delivered from pushcarts. No one gets away with not buying something.

If Islamic/Moroccan architecture is of interest, there are many places where you can fall into its glory. The most famous, and popular are the Bahia Palace, Madrasah Ben Youssef, El Badi Palace, and Saadian Tombs. But we found doorways and local mosques that were as exquisitely designed and actively used. Stepping into a saint’s tomb, you can recline on an ancient handwoven rug and let the heat from your body seep into the elaborately tiled walls, perhaps while meditating on how Islamic saints were ordinary people who fed the poor, housed the blind, and taught women to read.

The heat can be overwhelming, especially if are a former mushroom from the PNW. Tiled coolness isn’t always available, but there are many gardens to enjoy throughout the city. Most famous and eye-poppingly colorful is Yves Saint Laurent’s Majorelle Garden. The garden combines Arabic and Art Deco influences and features fountains, exotic cacti, and distinctive cobalt blue walls and structures. Le Jardin Secret hides in the heart of the medina and features two distinct areas: an exotic garden with plants from around the world and an Islamic garden designed with ancient principles of balance and spirituality. Out by the airport are the Menara Gardens with its 12th century artificial lake reflecting the glory of the Atlas Mountains and the centuries-old olive trees surrounding it.

The air for the first few days was “thick” — not dusty or smoggy, just not clear. When it did on our 3rd day, we were treated to the sight of the magnificent Atlas Mountains. We suddenly understood why everyone asked if we were going to visit them. Next trip.

We stayed in two places, the Park Hyatt Marrakesh and the Riad Al Rimal, vastly different from one another. The Park Hyatt was for the occasion of J’s birthday, and, once again, thank goodness for Hyatt’s excellent loyalty program: we stayed for free instead of paying $800/ night. We were given an upgrade to a “Park Suite” on the upper floor, facing a large, landscaped garden with a lovely view of the Atlas Mountains and a private balcony. It was perfect for sitting outside and reading in the evening. The spa is heavenly with a huge heated indoor pool, a hot tub with cabanas, a relaxation room and terrace, a massive gym complex, men’s and women’s hammam rooms and cold plunge tubs, and a co-ed steam room and sauna. We enjoyed one of the best non-therapeutic massages we’ve ever had. The outdoor pool is also spectacular, although we ended up not actually swimming during our stay (it was warm enough, we just didn’t feel like it when we were free to do so.) This is a gorgeous hotel, one that visually engages with the Moroccan culture in many ways.

The downsides were mainly that we were at least 20 minutes from the city, in an area under major development. Long taxi rides and waits for taxis were a part of every day and required an extra level of planning. If you didn’t want to be poolside, or golf, there wasn’t much else to do. This is a place that requires you to move into a very low gear.

Pictures of the grounds by me:

The Riad Al Rimal & Spa is very different.We’d booked a Standard Double and it was tiny, barely big enough for the double and small side tables. No place to sit, or unpack our bags except the bed. The bathroom was clean and also tiny; the wardrobe adequate. There was no AC, fortunately open windows provided a cooling breeze. Not very safe though. We were offered a special on their hammam and massage package that wasn’t a very good deal price or technique wise. (J’s person clearly was in training, left early, and didn’t take direction [a little firmer, please] at all.) We’d been looking forward to spending time in the pool, but a family of four basically filled it up entirely and after an hour we gave up and went back to our room. Lots of stairs — this is not a place to say if you have bad knees or mobility issues.

It was, however, located in the heart of the medina and ideal for getting into where most tourists want to explore. The price was very good, and it was exceptionally quiet. (Pictures from Trip Advisor.)