Marrakech Travel Guide
What to Eat in Marrakech
A food lover's guide to Marrakech: the city's own tanjia, tagines and Friday couscous, the night market of Jemaa el-Fna, snail soup and msemen, pastries, mint tea, rooftop dining, cooking classes and how to eat safely and well.
Moroccan food is one of the great cuisines of the Mediterranean and the Arab world, shaped by Amazigh, Arab, Andalusian and Jewish traditions and by spice routes that brought cumin, saffron, ginger and cinnamon to the souks. Marrakech is a fine place to eat it, from the smoking stalls of Jemaa el-Fna to riad kitchens and palace dining rooms, and it has a dish all its own. Here is what to look for, and how to eat well without getting sick or overcharged.
Tanjia, the dish of Marrakech. If you eat one thing that is truly local, make it tanjia. Named after the tall clay urn it is cooked in, it is traditionally a bachelor's dish: beef or lamb packed into the jar with preserved lemon, garlic, cumin, saffron and smen, a fermented butter, then sealed and taken to the furnace that heats a neighborhood hammam, where it cooks slowly in the embers for hours until the meat falls apart. Several small restaurants near the souks and the Mechoui alley on the edge of Jemaa el-Fna serve it, often alongside mechoui, whole lamb slow-roasted in underground ovens and sold by weight with cumin and salt. Go at lunchtime, when it is freshest.
Tagines and couscous. The tagine is both the conical clay pot and the stew cooked in it, and there are dozens of versions: chicken with preserved lemon and olives, lamb with prunes and almonds, kefta meatballs with eggs, and vegetable tagines that suit vegetarians. Couscous is traditionally a Friday dish, eaten at home after the midday prayer, and many restaurants and riads serve it on Fridays, steamed until fluffy and topped with seven vegetables and meat. Pastilla, a sweet and savory pie of flaky warqa pastry filled with pigeon or chicken, almonds and cinnamon and dusted with sugar, is the festive showpiece, with a seafood version too.
Jemaa el-Fna by night. At dusk the square fills with dozens of numbered food stalls, and dinner here is an experience every visitor should have once. Choose busy stalls full of Moroccan families, where food turns over quickly and is cooked in front of you. Look for grilled brochettes and kefta, merguez sausages, fried fish and calamari, harira, the tomato, lentil and chickpea soup that breaks the fast in Ramadan, and bissara, a thick fava-bean soup with olive oil and cumin. The snail-soup stands, with their steaming cauldrons and ladles of spicy broth, are a local institution, as are the khoudenjal stalls selling a hot, spiced ginger and herb drink with a slab of cake. Agree on what you are ordering, check posted prices and do not accept extras you did not ask for.
Breakfast and snacks. Riad breakfasts are a highlight: msemen, flaky square pancakes, and baghrir, spongy semolina pancakes full of holes, with honey, butter, amlou, a spread of argan oil, almonds and honey, olives, eggs and fresh orange juice. On the street, look for sfenj doughnuts in the morning, msemen stuffed with onions and spices, fresh bread from the communal ovens and, everywhere, glasses of orange juice from the carts in the square. Fresh dates, figs and nuts from the souks make good snacks.
Pastries and mint tea. Moroccan pastries, many of them made with almonds, honey and orange-flower water, include cornes de gazelle, crescent-shaped almond pastries, and chebakia, sesame flowers fried and soaked in honey, eaten especially in Ramadan. Mint tea, green tea brewed with fresh mint and plenty of sugar, poured from a height to create a froth, is the drink of hospitality: you will be offered it in shops, homes and riads, and accepting a glass does not oblige you to buy. Ask for it with less sugar if you prefer.
Rooftops, riads and modern kitchens. Some of the best meals in Marrakech are on rooftops overlooking the Medina, especially around Rahba Kedima, the souks and the Kasbah, where terraces serve modern takes on Moroccan food and views of the Koutoubia at sunset. Riads often cook superb home-style dinners for guests on request, which is a lovely way to spend a first evening. Gueliz and Hivernage have the more contemporary restaurants and international food, and the palace hotels, including La Mamounia and the Royal Mansour, have dining rooms that are destinations in themselves; La Grande Table Marocaine at the Royal Mansour is a showcase of the national cuisine. Book the best places ahead in high season.
Cooking classes and food tours. A cooking class, typically starting with a market visit to buy spices and vegetables and ending with a tagine lunch, is one of the most rewarding activities in the city; many riads and hotels run them. Guided street-food tours of the Medina in the evening are a good way to try the stalls and snack shops with a local who knows which are best.
Drinks. Alcohol is legal but discreet: it is served in licensed hotels, bars and many restaurants in Gueliz, Hivernage and the bigger riads, but not at the food stalls or in most Medina cafes. Morocco makes its own wines, mostly around Meknes, and beer. Fresh juices, avocado smoothies and mint tea are everywhere.
Eating safely. Most visitors eat freely without problems, but a few habits help: drink bottled water, eat at busy places where food is cooked fresh, be cautious with salads and raw vegetables at street stalls, and peel fruit. Carry hand sanitizer, as you will often eat with your hands, using bread to scoop. During Ramadan, which falls in late winter in 2027, many local restaurants close by day and open for the evening ftour, the meal that breaks the fast, while hotels and tourist restaurants keep serving.