Best Fish Market Eating in Casablanca — Central Market to Your Plate

The Marché Central (Central Market) in the heart of downtown Casablanca has been the city's fish institution since the French protectorate era. Under its arches, fishmongers lay out the morning's Atlantic catch — sea bream (dorade), sea bass (loup), sole, red mullet, prawns, calamari, spider crab and sea urchins in season. The ritual is simple and beloved by locals: choose and buy your fish by weight from a monger, then carry it a few steps to one of the market's cooking stalls, which grill or fry it to order for a modest charge and serve it with bread, salad and lemon.

This buy-and-cook model is the cheapest and freshest way to eat seafood in a big Moroccan city, because you are eating exactly what you selected minutes after buying it. The stalls do a roaring lunchtime trade with office workers and market regulars, so turnover is high and the fish is unfailingly fresh. Order a whole grilled dorade, a plate of fried calamari, or, for the adventurous, a dozen sea urchins (oursins) cracked open and eaten raw with lemon — a Casablanca delicacy in the cooler months.

To do it right, confirm the per-kilo price before your fish is weighed and agree the cooking charge upfront. Go at lunch when the market is busiest and the catch is freshest, take a mixed plate to try several species, and eat elbow-to-elbow with locals at the communal tables. It is loud, fast and unpretentious — and among the best-value seafood meals in the country.