Fine Dining in Fes — Palace Restaurants and Refined Fassi Cuisine

Fine dining in Fes means the traditional palace restaurant: a grand medina mansion or riad with a fountain courtyard, zellige-tiled walls, painted cedar ceilings and cushioned salons, where dinner unfolds as a procession of Fassi classics. A typical menu opens with a spread of cooked and raw Moroccan salads, moves through pastilla, then a tagine or slow-cooked lamb, and finishes with couscous, fruit, pastries and mint tea. Often there is live Andalusian or oud music, a nod to the city's deep Andalusi heritage.

Fassi cuisine sits at the pinnacle of Moroccan cooking, and the high-end kitchens show why: the pastilla is made properly with pigeon and warqa, the lamb is finished with honeyed prunes and almonds, and the seasoning has the delicacy the city is known for. Some of the finest tables belong to luxury riad-hotels, where classically trained cooks work with the best produce and present the food with real polish.

Because many of the grand restaurants are set deep in the medina's maze, arrange directions or a guide when you book, and allow time to find the door. Reservations are advisable, especially for the palace restaurants that also cater to groups. Some venues are licensed for wine — including good Moroccan bottles from Meknes just down the road — while others are dry, so ask when reserving.

This is dining as an event: settle in for a long, multi-course evening, pace yourself through the salads and pastilla, and treat the setting as part of the meal. Expect from around 300 MAD per head for a set menu, rising well beyond that at the flagship riad-hotels.