Where to Eat in Marrakech: An Honest Guide for First-Timers
Bacha Coffee
For the coffee lovers, this is the spot you need to go to. Located in the Dar El Bacha Museum, it opened its doors in 1910 and now has multiple locations around the world.
It opens at 10am — however, you’ll need to arrive a little before this, as people will already be queuing down the road. On our first visit we went as soon as it opened and were told we wouldn’t be able to get in until 3pm! So the next day we started to queue at 9:30 and were able to grab our seats after a little wait.
As it’s located inside a museum, you’ll need to pay a ticket fee of 10 dirhams. This doesn’t, however, allow you to walk around the museum — there are security guards checking what ticket type you have to stop people wandering around. If you’d like to explore the museum too while waiting for your space at Bacha Coffee, that’s an extra 70 dirhams.
One of the main reasons people love this place isn’t even the coffee — it’s the setting, so make sure to bring your camera!
Like we said, this is for the coffee lovers: they have over 200 arabica coffees to choose from, but be warned that a lot of them come black. There’s some crème and sugar to sweeten it up if that’s more your style. They also have a large range of pastries and breakfast items to choose from.
1112 Marrakech
If coffee isn’t your style, then maybe some tea will be! Eleven Twelve offers 12 teas for the 12 regions of Morocco. It’s nowhere near as busy as Bacha Coffee, so you should be able to walk straight in.
We ordered one tea each and a trio of the Moroccan pastries they have on offer. If you want a bigger bite to eat, they also do some traditional dishes like tagine.
The setting is lovely too — it’s tucked into a beautifully green courtyard with a water fountain in the middle, where you can watch the birds bathe. Definitely a great photo spot.
La Fontaine des Épices
La Fontaine des Épices is a very popular, traditional Moroccan restaurant. It has a large beautifully decorated rooftop area. We’d recommend booking a reservation as this restaurant gets busy very quickly, sunset is the best time to come for photos and to watch the lanterns turn on. This is a perfect picture opportunity; many people were snapping shots on the corner for the best view. Some nights they also put on live music which all the guests really enjoyed and interacted with.
We ordered traditional Moroccan dishes, chicken tagine and couscous. Both were exceptional, along with some great cocktails. It was a little more expensive than some of other restaurants we had seen, but for the setting and atmosphere, it was worth it.
Foundouk Gargaa
This spot is a little hidden gem, we haven’t seen many people talking about it, yet it was our favourite lunch spot in the whole city. We went back a couple of times.
The most popular thing to order is one of their msemen wraps, they’re loaded with your choice of filling and plenty of fresh veggies. We got the chicken and the halloumi, and both were incredible. We’d also recommend getting the hummus on the side.
La Trattoria
Once you’ve been in Marrakech for a couple of days, you might feel like a break from the wonderful tagines. So why not indulge in an incredibly beautiful Italian? Which is exactly what we did.
The interior design was one of the big reasons we chose to come here, and you can see why. Once you walk in and head over to your poolside, candlelit table, you’ll be in awe. We ordered the Lasagne alla Trattoria and the fettuccine con pollo e funghi. The lasagne was one of the best we’ve had in a while and finished with a crème brûlée.
It isn’t cheap by Marrakech standards, but for a night off Moroccan food in a setting like that, we didn’t mind at all.
Maison Sucrée — Cornes de Gazelle (Mouassine / Dar El Bacha)
If you’re in the mood for a local pastry, then Maison Sucrée has you covered. There are many places in Marrakech where you can get Cornes de Gazelle, but this was our favourite.
They offer a whole range of different Cornes de Gazelle, from Salted Caramel to Coconut.
If You enjoyed this list, please consider checking out our other Marrakesh guides!