What to eat in Morocco: a local's foodie guide

What should you eat in Morocco, and where should you try it? Morocco local Ruben Derksen dishes up his foodie favourites, from slow-roasted mechoui in Marrakech to Fassi pastilla and sardines straight from the grill in Essaouira.

Tagine. Couscous. Mint tea. You probably know Morocco’s headline flavours before you’ve even packed your bags.

But eating here gets far more interesting once you look beyond the restaurant menu. Bread dough is carried to neighbourhood ovens. Friday couscous is passed around the table. In coastal towns, lunch might depend on what the fishing boats brought in that morning.

We asked Morocco local Ruben Derksen what visitors should eat, where they should eat it and the food rituals worth knowing about before they go.

Start the day the Marrakech way

Step away from the hotel breakfast buffet. Ruben’s first order in Marrakech would be msemen, amlou and coffee.

Msemen is a square, layered Moroccan flatbread, while amlou is a rich spread traditionally made with almonds, honey and argan oil. Breakfast sorted, Ruben would head into the medina early, before the streets fill and the souks get into full swing.

It’s also Ruben’s favourite time to catch Marrakech before the day gets going. “The smell of bread and charcoal starting up, shutters opening and people beginning the day. Morocco has a very recognisable rhythm before the streets become busy.”

Food here isn’t something that only happens once you sit down in a restaurant. It’s part of the soundtrack, smell and movement of the streets.

Curious to discover more of Marrakech's moreish flavours? Join our local cooking class experience.

In Marrakech, follow the smell of roast lamb

Come lunchtime, Ruben points us towards Souk Ablouh, the little Mechoui Alley just off Jemaa el-Fnaa.

The star here is mechoui: lamb slowly roasted until meltingly tender, then served without much ceremony. Bread, salt, cumin. That’s about it.

“Tanjia is another essential Marrakchi dish and this is also one of the best areas to try it,” says Ruben. Tanjia is deeply tied to Marrakech, traditionally slow-cooked for hours and built around meat and spices. There’s only one sensible approach here: arrive hungry and try both.

Spending a few days in the city? Our Marrakech for first-timers guide has plenty more ideas on where to go and what to do between meals.

Save Friday for couscous

When we asked Ruben to name the one Moroccan dish every visitor should experience, he picked couscous on a Friday, the day it’s traditionally eaten and shared with family in Morocco.

But where you eat it matters. “Ideally not in a tourist restaurant, but somewhere small and local – or even better, in a Moroccan home.”

Friday couscous is about more than what’s on the plate. Traditionally shared, it brings people together around one generous dish. “There is something about everyone sharing the same enormous plate that explains Moroccan hospitality better than almost any sightseeing experience.”

Food is only part of Ruben’s Morocco hit list. Discover more of his favourite things to do in Morocco, from meeting Marrakech’s makers to crossing the High Atlas.

Go sweet and savoury in Fes

Next stop: Fes, where Ruben’s pick is pastilla, a crisp, flaky pastry traditionally filled with spiced meat and finished with icing sugar and cinnamon.

Fassi cooking is known for its elaborate combinations of sweet and savoury flavours, spices and nuts, and pastilla brings them together brilliantly. For a good introduction, Ruben recommends ordering it in a traditional riad or family-run restaurant, where you’re more likely to get a taste of the refined cooking Fes is known for.

Order lunch fresh from the Atlantic

Essaouira calls for a completely different approach. Head down to the working fishing port and see what’s come in that morning. Around the fish market, you can choose your fish and have it cooked nearby. Just agree the price of both the fish and the cooking before you order.

“Sardines, sole, calamari or whatever the day’s catch happens to be, simply grilled, is much more Essaouira than an elaborate seafood platter,” says Ruben.

His advice is to move away from the obvious front row of tourist restaurants and look for the smaller, no-frills places around the market.

After lunch, walk it off along Essaouira’s long sweep of Atlantic beach, then head back into the medina for sunset and a Moroccan wine on a rooftop. Don’t plan the rest too closely. Essaouira is best enjoyed with a bit of time left unaccounted for.

Go fish shopping in Agadir

Further down the Atlantic coast, Agadir offers another version of market-to-plate eating. Come lunchtime, Ruben heads for Souk El Had, where fresh fish and seafood can go from market stall to grill.

It’s an experience he likes precisely because it isn’t solely aimed at visitors. This is a market woven into the life of the city, where people come to do their shopping and eat.

That fits Ruben’s take on Agadir more broadly. Look beyond its all-inclusive beach-break reputation and you’ll find a lively modern city, with university students, cafés and restaurants alongside its famous sweep of sand.

Still deciding where to make room for on your trip? Our local’s guide to the best places to visit in Morocco covers the cities, coast and mountains in more detail.

Taste the High Atlas

Some of Ruben’s favourite food memories take us away from Morocco’s cities altogether.

In the High Atlas, his perfect day involves walking between villages before stopping for tea and lunch in someone’s home. The food isn’t fussy: fresh bread, a tagine cooked for hours, local honey and walnuts, washed down with mint tea. Add the mountains you’ve just walked through as the backdrop and there’s little need for restaurant bells and whistles.

“Mountain food isn't necessarily complicated, but when the ingredients come directly from the village it tastes completely different.”

Autumn brings another dimension, with the harvest season adding to that connection between what’s on the table and what’s growing around you.

Don't overlook modern Morocco's food scene

Moroccan food doesn’t begin and end with recipes handed down through generations. Ruben points to Casablanca for a taste of where the country’s dining scene is heading next.

The city has restaurants serving contemporary Moroccan food alongside a much wider international mix. Ruben namechecks Dar Dada and female-owned Gare aux Gorilles, alongside Porta Lisboa and L’Octave, while neighbourhoods such as Gauthier, Maârif and Racine are good hunting grounds for cafés, restaurants and bars.

It’s a useful counterpoint to the medinas, riads and market stalls elsewhere on a Morocco trip: modern Morocco, seen through its restaurants and bars.

And the thing you’ll find on every Moroccan table? Bread.

For all the dishes visitors associate with Morocco, Ruben says there’s one everyday staple we tend to underestimate. Bread.

“Visitors often think of Moroccan food in terms of tagines and couscous, but bread is really at the centre of the table.”

Fresh khobz is bought throughout the day. In some neighbourhoods, families prepare their own dough and take it to a communal oven to be baked, returning later to collect the finished loaves. It’s ordinary Moroccan life rather than a visitor experience packaged up for an itinerary. And perhaps that’s why it tells you so much.

Because eating your way around Morocco isn't only about working through a list of famous dishes. It’s buying what came off the boat that morning. Sharing bread around a plate of couscous. Drinking tea after a walk through the mountains. Smelling charcoal smoke while Marrakech is still waking up. Follow the food and you’ll find much more than your next meal.

The information is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication.