Here is a wrap up of our previous post:
Eating out in Fes!
What makes a good restaurant is often an objective assessment. David, who runs the delightful Dar Bennis offers his guests a comprehensive list of eating places.
Howie on his Around the World Blog has some different views on one of the major restaurants; the Palais Jamai restaurant: Here are his comments on his first visit since it was acquired by multinational Sofitel in 1999...A glorious era that began in 1930 has definitely come to an end. The hotel was never really inexpensive but Sofitel has not only made it blander and more acceptable to a lower common denominator (i.e.- people who like Disneyworld), they have also made it outrageously more expensive. I mean, although it is quite lovely, built into the walls of Fes-el-Bali (the old city medina), when you get right down to it, it is, afterall, just a nice old hotel afloat in a sea of donkey shit. Literally. (One of the principal charms of Fes-- less charitable people might say the only charm-- is that it is a mysterious warren on dark, narrow cobblestone alleyways, with steps everywhere. It is the world's most complete functioning medieval city. No motor vehicles in medieval cities; only donkeys. And mules. And they don't wear diapers. After a while it only bothers you when it's raining.) Anyway, the hotel is charging London and Paris prices-- in a sea of donkey shit.
For those prices you should at least expect top notch eats, right? Breakfast's included and the key word is bland. If a Moroccan wife served her husband's guests harira like they had at breakfast at the Palais Jamai, she would be beaten before she was divorced.
However the host of Dar Bennis says:
Palais Jamai, Bab il Guissa, great lunch buffet on terrace (you can get just the salad bar), and superb French cuisine in the evening; 100-270 DH. The Moroccan restaurant, open only in the evening, is part of the original palace and is fantastic, perhaps the most beautiful place to dine in Fez. Good traditional music. 430 DH.
Other bloggers write little about eating in Fes. Adam, from African Adventures writes:
After the medina, we ate at an Italian restaurant and walked home for sleep. Sunday morning, we woke up and went to the registered church where there were many expatriates that were in Fes for various reasons, whether to learn languages, business, teachers, and others. It was good fellowship. After church, we walked across the street to the most gigantic McDonald's I've ever seen in my life! I mean, it was two stories and it had an entire separate building for the kids' play area! Are you kidding me?? I hated eating at McDonald's in the States and they're here too!! America is everywhere! I do remember why I didn't like it there, and I must ask for forgiveness from those who like Mickey-D's, but I still think the food is terrible. It was okay, though. But after we ate, we had to leave already...
Others seem defeated by the old Medina, even before they have really explored it. It is sad to read how many tourists feel unable to vary their diet, or even venture far from the "safety" of a luxury hotel. One wonders why they ever left home. Danny from Scotland writes:
I am currently in Fes and its like being trapped inside a bible story, the road outside our hotel is a wide dirt passage and it certainly gives another meaning to going off the beaten track. Fes is an ancient medieval labyrinth full of donkeys, traders and hustlers, where everything is lost inside a maze of crumbling streets that smell of dung, spices and raw sewage. It is very different to Tangier, which is considerably more developed and is more like a throwback to the fifties than an ancient Islamic mecca. We left Tangier yesterday and it wasn't a particularly enjoyable place to visit, then again, how many people travel to Scotland by ferry and stay in Stranraer?
Sometimes I had to psyche myself up just to leave the hotel. We were only ever comfortable living the colonial lifestyle in Tangier, which consisted of eating out in plush restaurants, receiving impeccable service from deferential waiters and lying in bed watching BBC World on the widescreen television. Almost every restaurant offered us a complimentary basket of chips with our meal, it was embarrassing how they instinctively catered and pandered to our staple diet without even being prompted. We did however go beyond the main street and ventured up an old bustling market.
And then there are the adventurous who eat "on the street". Laura, (LauralostinEurope ) blogs:
We joined up and grabbed a bite. what did we have? camel meat kebab! wow. honestly, not bad not bad. all we had to do was order at the butchery, the butcher cuts up the meat and passes it to his assistant who grills it in front of you. talk about fresh. anyways, so eating as we walked we took in the sights and sounds of the area. later, we grabbed a drink later. the national drink - mint tea. Its served in a tall glass, mint leaves to the brim, and is very sweet. But real good stuff. I ordered some Moroccan cake. It didnt look anything like cake. so there was my birthday cake.
The main lesson from all of this is: Those who get out and about and experiment will be rewarded. Those who stay close to the hotel should have stayed at home. And one more thing - try the snail soup!
The English newspaper the Telegraph ran an article a couple of years ago on food and Fes which had this description:
In the food market on Tala al-Kebir, a few minutes' walk along the main thoroughfare that runs through the medina from the main gate, Bab Bou Jeloud, live turkeys and chickens glared madly and an unfortunate hedgehog scrabbled in a wire cage beside boxes of pigeons. "We eat it for many things, like colds," said Amine.
There were stalls piled high with sweet pastries shaped like cockles and skewers of roasted lamb smelling of cumin, and corner stalls selling snail soup from bubbling aluminium vats. Snail soup? "It keeps out the cold." Maybe, but it's a dubious greyish colour. And it tastes of snails.
Caroline Stone writes: Another shared taste is that for snails - not the large French variety but the small brown-and-cream banded snails known as babouch, the same word used for the curly-toed Moroccan soft leather slippers. A bowl of snail soup is considered a great restorative, and is one of the dishes commonly sold in the street.
See her comprehensive article here: Morocco by Mouthfuls.
And of course at the end of your meal don't forget the mint tea.
The senior guest is often invited to prepare the tea. In Morocco, green China tea is generally used. A heaped spoonful is placed in a good-sized pot which has previously been warmed. Add a little boiling water, two to three spoonfuls of sugar - this is a matter of taste, and Moroccans usually like things sweeter than Europeans - and a handful of fresh, dark-green mint leaves without their stalks. The mint should be pushed into the bottom of the pot with a spoon to crush it a little; there are arguments as to how much it should be crushed. Some people like to bruise the mint by rubbing it in their hands before putting it into the pot. Fill the teapot with boiling water.
In Morocco, the water is generally poured from a height of a couple of feet or so, and orange-blossom petals may be added when they are in season, or a few drops of orange-blossom water at other times. As in England, making tea is a formal social moment, and therefore each stage may be accompanied by small rituals and flourishes. The tea is then left to steep a moment or two before drinking.
In the future we will publish some suggestions for eating out in other Moroccan cities and towns, but just to keep you going in Casablanca: Dining cheap in Casablanca
In the heart of Casa you will find a small, traditional restaurant where you can order the most delicious roast chicken served with homemade French fries, salad and spicy rice all for a very reasonable price — less than $5. The owner is fluent in English.
Saladdin, Place Marechal, 23 Rue Jontil, Casablanca, Morocco; 011-212-67-93-8914.
Fes Restaurant List
Where to Stay and Eat in Marrakech
Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
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