Street food & casual
Fes Street Sweets and Snacks
Fes is widely considered Morocco's culinary capital, the guardian of the country's most refined cooking, and that depth extends to its street snacks and sweets. The vast medieval medina — one of the world's largest car-free urban areas — is packed with bakeries, sweet stalls, fried-food counters and snack sellers. Here is a guide to grazing the old city's sugar and savoury treats.
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- 8 min
- Guide
- Street food & casual
- Updated
- 19 July 2026
At a glance
- Fes is Morocco's culinary capital, with a deep pastry and sweet tradition.
- The medina's bakeries and fried-food stalls are the heart of the snack scene.
- Sfenj (Moroccan doughnuts) and honey pastries are essential.
- Graze across specialists rather than eating one big meal.
The sweet side of Fes
Moroccan sweets reach their finest form in Fes, where an old bourgeois culinary tradition prizes elaborate almond, honey and orange-flower pastries. The medina's sweet shops display glistening pyramids of them, and the aromas of frying dough and warm honey drift through the lanes. Many are tied to celebrations and Ramadan, but you can find them year-round in the old city.
- Chebakia: sesame-coated dough knots fried and soaked in honey, a Ramadan classic available year-round.
- Cornes de gazelle (kaab el ghazal): delicate crescent pastries filled with almond paste and orange-flower water.
- Sfenj: light, chewy Moroccan doughnuts fried fresh and eaten warm, plain or with sugar.
- Briouat: sweet almond-filled pastry triangles, sometimes dipped in honey.
- Sellou / sfouf: a rich, energy-dense blend of toasted flour, almonds, sesame and honey.
Savoury snacks and street bites
Fes is not all sugar. Its medina is full of savoury snack specialists, from griddle breads to bean soups, that make ideal grazing between the sweets.
Seek out msemen and rghaif, the flaky folded griddle breads served with honey or cheese; harcha, the pan-cooked semolina cakes; maakouda, the spiced potato fritters tucked into bread; bissara, the humble fava-bean soup dressed with olive oil and cumin that is a classic Fes breakfast; and the grilled brochettes and merguez that sizzle at medina counters. Each is cheap, fresh off the fire or griddle, and best from a busy stall.
How to graze the medina
The medina of Fes is a labyrinth, so grazing is the right strategy — buy one thing at each specialist and keep moving. Follow the crowds and the queues of locals, eat sfenj and msemen in the morning when they are freshest, and save the honey pastries for an afternoon tea break. A glass of mint tea is the perfect foil to the sweetness. Because the old city is car-free and dense, everything is within walking distance if you are prepared to get pleasantly lost.
Fes rewards a guide who knows the specialist stalls — see the country's food tours — and to understand the refined cooking behind the snacks, a cooking class in the city's culinary tradition is a natural pairing.
Frequently asked questions
What sweets should I try in Fes?
Start with chebakia (honey-soaked sesame dough knots), cornes de gazelle (almond-filled crescents scented with orange-flower water), and freshly fried sfenj doughnuts eaten warm. Briouat pastry triangles and the rich toasted-flour sellou are also classics. Fes is Morocco's culinary capital, so its medina sweet shops make these at their most refined.
What is sfenj?
Sfenj is a Moroccan doughnut — a light, chewy ring of dough fried fresh and eaten warm, plain or dusted with sugar. Sold from dedicated stalls, often in the morning, it is a beloved street snack across Morocco and especially good in the bakeries of the Fes medina. Eat it hot from the fryer for the best texture.
Is Fes really Morocco's food capital?
It is widely regarded as such. Fes preserves the country's most refined bourgeois culinary tradition, from elaborate almond-and-honey pastries to complex savoury cooking, developed over centuries in its medieval medina. That depth shows in everything from its sweet shops to its street snacks, making the old city a paradise for anyone grazing Moroccan food.
What savoury street snacks are there in Fes?
Plenty beyond the sweets: msemen and rghaif flaky griddle breads with honey or cheese, harcha semolina cakes, maakouda potato fritters in bread, bissara fava-bean soup as a classic breakfast, and grilled brochettes and merguez. Each is cheap and best bought fresh from a busy medina stall with high local turnover.