Best Tagine in Safi — Atlantic Fish Tagine and Coastal Cooking

In a fishing town like Safi, the tagine to seek out is the fish version. Fresh white fish — or a mix of the day's catch — is cooked with chermoula (coriander, garlic, cumin, paprika and preserved lemon), tomatoes, peppers and a bed of sliced potato and carrot, producing a light, fragrant, deeply Atlantic dish. It makes the most of Safi's abundant fresh fish and is the natural choice in Morocco's sardine capital, lighter and fresher than the meat tagines.

The classic meat tagines are here too — chicken with preserved lemon and olives, lamb with prunes and almonds, kefta with egg — cooked slow and served with the reduced, glossy sauce that marks a good one. But it is the seafood that defines Safi, and even the tagines lean toward the sea. Chermoula, the marinade at the heart of Moroccan fish cookery, is the flavour to look for, tying the fish tagine to the city's grilled sardines and wider seafood culture.

Because Safi is an untouristy working port, its tagines are cooked for locals at honest prices in the medina canteens and small restaurants, with midday the main tagine hour. The city's pottery heritage even reaches the table — Safi's famous ceramics include the tagine dishes themselves, and eating a fish tagine cooked and served in local Safi pottery is a fitting touch in the town that makes it.

Order the chermoula fish tagine to taste Safi's coastal character, or a classic meat version, and share it with bread. In this sardine-capital port, the fish tagine is the dish that best marries the city's seafood abundance with the Moroccan tagine tradition — fresh, fragrant and honestly priced.