Best Breakfast in Oujda — Eastern Mornings and Good Coffee

Oujda's breakfast starts with the familiar Moroccan foundation — msemmen and harcha griddle breads with honey, jam, olive oil and soft cheese, baghrir pancakes, olives and eggs — served in medina cafés and homes with plenty of sweet mint tea. Morning stalls fry sfenj doughnuts and ladle bissara soup for the cheap, traditional workers' start, and karan is sometimes eaten early too, warm from the oven.

As the capital of Morocco's Oriental region, Oujda has a lively, sociable café culture, and mornings often revolve around strong coffee at a neighbourhood café. The city's eastern character and proximity to Algeria give its café scene a distinctive, animated feel, and the coffee — taken as a nous-nous (half coffee, half milk) or a stronger black qahwa — is a serious part of the daily routine. The border region's love of grilled and hearty food sometimes extends to a more substantial morning meal than the sweet spreads of the west.

Because Oujda sees few tourists, breakfast here is authentic and affordable, taken among locals rather than visitors, whether at a medina café, a market stall or a city-centre coffee house. The markets supply fresh bread, olives, dates and the produce of the eastern region for a cheap morning picnic, and the fresh-juice stands are refreshing in the hot eastern climate.

Keep it simple and local — griddle breads, honey, eggs and mint tea, or coffee and pastries at a lively café — and try karan early if you find it fresh. In this far-eastern city, breakfast is honest, cheap and characterful, a good introduction to the distinctive food culture of the Oriental region.