...And the rest

What else could I call this post after the one about Place Djema El-Fnaa? That one eating experience was greater than the combination of all the other meals I had in Morocco. However that should in no way make you think that the rest of my stay there was anything less than excellent as far as the food was concerned. During my two weeks there, I ate a lot of great food, missed out on some things and made sure I avoided some others. And the list is pretty long.

The a la Menthe (Mint Tea)
This is to Moroccans what coffee is to the French. It is everywhere, from the wilderness of the Atlas mountains to the stylish streetside cafes of Casablanca. And not without good reason. The flamboyant waiter in red at Djema El-Fnaa even called it Whiskey Marocaine (Moroccan Whiskey). We had seen it on the Globetrekker show and read about it on Wikitravel. We had our first mint tea in a Casablanca cafe and it was instantly addictive. I'm not exaggerating when I say that each one of us had, on an average a litre of mint tea everyday from the time we landed in Morocco. We cannot reach an agreement about which was the best, but my favourite was in a small cafe near the Medina gate Bab Bou Jeloud in Fes. This cafe had only coffee and mint tea on its menu and the tea came in the biggest possible glass, was full of mint and had two sugar cubes on the side. Specialization is the name of the game, even when it comes to something as simple as mint tea!

Tagine
If mint tea is the most common drink to be found in Morocco, the Tagine is the most common sight in any eating place. It's a clay vessel with a large conical lid and lends its name to most things that are cooked in it. So many different things are cooked in a Tagine in so many different ways, it should actually be classified as a sub-cuisine. During my time in Morocco, I tried the following

Vegetable Tagine
Chicken Tagine
Meat Tagine
Meatball Tagine with Tomato Sauce

Other Possible Tagines are Fish Tagine from Essaouira, Chicken Tagine with Plums and many others. My favourite was the Chicken Tagine we had in a Berber tent in the middle of the Sahara desert at Erg Chebbi.

Couscous
Morocco is the true home of what is considered a generic Arab/North African dish. Made with great effort (and skill), it has a texture quite similar to our Upma but is more granular and can be served with vegetables or meat. I wasnt very sure how this would turn out, but a well-made Couscous is definnitely a treat.

Grilled Seafood
Morocco's Atlantic coastline has good fish and two of its beach-towns, Essaouira and Agadir have great outdoor stalls that serve freshly grilled seafood. At Essaouira, I was really spoilt for choice. Giant crabs, lobster, cuttlefish, squid, sardines, snapper, turbot and more. I chose the Red Snapper, Sardines and some squid. This was then grilled and served with salad and bread. The Snapper was easily the best I'd had thus far, so were the Sardines. But the bastards burnt my Squid. Shall never forgive them.

Harira
I've already written about this one in the post on Djema El-Fnaa, but I had a lot of it throughout my trip and it deserves a second mention. It provided much needed nourishment after the gruelling trek to the Jebel Toubkal base camp and we always started our set meals in Fes with it. The Djema version is clearly the best though.

Berber Omlette
This is the mother of all Omlettes, the Omlette to beat all Omlettes. Three unbeaten eggs cooked in a Tagine with onions, tomatoes, peppers and spices. Had it only once on my way to the desert and the taste is still with me.

Fes restaurants
Fes was clearly the best city experience in Morocco. Getting lost in the alleys and souks of its gigantic Medina is an exotic and unforgettable experience. The restaurants in Fes were value-for-money, served great food and had typical Franco-Arab names like Chez Hamid and Chez Rachid. Thank you Chez Hamid for your filling breakfast and Chez Rachid for your Meatball Tagine in Tomato Sauce.

Sweetness in Chaouen
Its peculiar how hill-towns always have great bakeries. And its even more peculiar when you find out that this holds true not only in India, but also in far-away Morocco. Chaouen is in the Rif Mountains, known for 'relaxation'. After getting suitably 'relaxed', we stumbled upon an awesome bakery called Aziziya. It had awesome pastries, ice-creams and milkshakes - treats we could appreciate even more since we were 'relaxed'.

Pastilla
One of the things I missed in Morocco was this sweet-cum-savoury Chicken/Pigeon meat filled pie. The idea of a meat-filled pie being sweet in taste didnt quite appeal to me and the portions would have been too large for 2 non-vegetarians.

B'saara
This is Harira's poorer cousin and is only found in Fes. Its a soup made with butterbeans and garlic and is served with a dash of olive oil and bread. I couldnt try it for lack of time in Fes and the inconvenient location of the stalls serving it deep inside the medina.

Kalia
I knew I wouldnt be eating this the moment I saw it on Bizarre foods. Its meat preserved in fat and stored for weeks before its cooked with eggs. It smells awful and is supposed to taste even worse. Wonder how Moroccans eat it.

Morocco certainly lived up to its reputation for great food, and though I've never been to Tunisia, I'm sure Le Maroc will kick its ass in the contest for best food in North Africa. I've managed to smuggle some spices home and have also brought back a small Tagine. Will share recipes from the Maghreb in the next post so watch this space...:)