Best Grilled Fish in Essaouira — The Port Grills

The blue fishing boats of Essaouira land their catch each morning at the harbour, and right beside the port a row of open-air grill stalls turns it into lunch. You walk the displays of glistening fish, prawns, calamari, sardines, sole, sea bream and whatever else came in, choose what you want, and haggle a price by weight. Minutes later it is grilling over charcoal, served simply with bread, a chopped tomato-and-onion salad and lemon. Eating here, gulls wheeling overhead and the boats bobbing beside you, is the definitive Essaouira experience.

The key is freshness and simplicity: no heavy sauces, just fish, fire, salt and lemon, sometimes brushed with a little chermoula. Sardines — grilled in their oily glory — are the cheapest and among the best; a plate of them costs almost nothing. Prawns, calamari and small whole fish grill beautifully, while a larger sea bream or sole makes a centrepiece for two. Sea urchins appear in season for the adventurous.

Because it is a haggling, by-weight system, a little care pays off. Ask the price per kilo before anything is weighed, watch the scale, and be clear about what you're agreeing to — the fish is superb but the stalls compete hard for custom and prices can inflate for the unwary. Locals and repeat visitors know roughly what the day's catch should cost, and a confident, friendly approach gets a fair deal.

Beyond the port grills, the medina and the main square (Place Moulay Hassan) have restaurants doing the same fresh fish in more comfort, and fish tagine in chermoula for those who want it cooked Moroccan-style. But for the pure experience, the port grills at midday are unbeatable.