What to Eat in Marrakech: The Essential Dishes

The Marrakech specialities

Start with the dishes Marrakech does better, or more famously, than anywhere else.

• Tanjia marrakchia: the city's own dish — beef or lamb slow-cooked in a sealed clay urn in the hammam furnace until meltingly tender. Deeply local; see the tanjia guide.
• Mechoui: pit-roasted whole lamb, ordered by weight with bread and cumin, from Mechoui Alley off Jemaa el-Fna.
• Snail soup (babbouche): the peppery, warming street snack from the square's cauldrons.

The great tagines and couscous

You cannot visit Morocco without eating the two national icons. Order at least one classic tagine, and if your trip includes a Friday, seek out proper couscous (see couscous vs tagine and the Friday couscous tradition).

• Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives: the benchmark — tangy, savoury, aromatic. Try the recipe.
• Lamb tagine with prunes and almonds: the sweet-savoury Andalusian classic, rich with cinnamon and honey.
• Kefta tagine: spiced meatballs simmered in tomato sauce with eggs cracked on top.
• Seven-vegetable couscous: the hand-steamed Friday dish; see the recipe.

Soups, salads and the savoury supporting cast

Around the headline dishes sits a supporting cast that is often the most pleasant surprise of a Moroccan meal.

• Pastilla (bastilla): the extraordinary sweet-savoury pie of spiced pigeon or chicken in crisp pastry dusted with sugar and cinnamon (see pastries).
• Harira: the tomato, lentil and chickpea soup — comforting any time, essential in Ramadan (see Moroccan soups).
• Cooked salads: zaalouk, taktouka and friends, scooped with bread as starters (see Moroccan salads).
• Brochettes and kefta: grilled skewers from the street stalls (see the street-food guide).
• Bissara: the split-pea/fava breakfast soup for a cheap, warming morning.

The sweet finish and the drinks

Round off your eating with the sweet side of Marrakech. A tray of almond pastries — kaab el ghazal, chebakia, ghriba — with mint tea is the classic hospitality moment (see pastries and the mint tea ritual). Try good dates (dates guide), and do not miss the drinks: fresh orange juice from the square, a rich avocado shake, and a milky nous-nous coffee (see Moroccan drinks). A Moroccan breakfast of msemen, amlou and honey deserves a morning of its own (see the breakfast guide).

Breakfast and sweet bites to seek out

Savoury classics aside, do not sleep on Marrakech's breakfasts, snacks and sweets — some of the easiest wins of the trip.

• Msemen with amlou and honey: a flaky griddle bread with the almond-argan-honey spread — the breakfast to try (see the breakfast guide).
• Sfenj: warm, chewy doughnuts fried to order at street stalls.
• Baghrir: the spongy 'thousand-hole' semolina pancake with butter-and-honey syrup.
• Kaab el ghazal and chebakia: almond and honey pastries with mint tea (see pastries).
• Good dates: Mejhoul and Boufeggous from the souk (see the dates guide).
• An avocado shake or fresh orange juice to cool off between sights.

How to work through the list

Do not try to eat everything in a day. Make lunch your big meal (see how to eat like a local), mix a few sit-down restaurant meals with street-food grazing, and consider a food tour early on to tick off several specialities with a guide who knows the best versions. If a dish inspires you, learn to make it in a cooking class and take the recipe home. Eat seasonally, eat where locals eat, and leave room for the tea.