Eat your way through Marrakech: a local's food map

Most first-time visitors eat the same four dishes in the same three squares and go home thinking they've seen Marrakech's food scene. They haven't. The city has layers — Berber, Andalusian, Saharan, French — and the best Moroccan meals are rarely on the obvious streets.

Breakfast: skip the riad, walk to Bab Doukkala

At the small bakery on the corner opposite the vegetable market (ask for "msemen chaud"), flaky square pancakes come off the griddle every fifteen minutes. Eat one with amlou (almond and argan paste) and a glass of mint tea, standing up, for about €1. That's how locals start the day.

Lunch: Mechoui Alley, behind Jemaa el-Fna

If you eat one dish in Marrakech, make it mechoui — slow-roasted lamb shoulder, pulled apart and dipped in cumin salt. Mechoui Alley (the unnamed lane just north-west of the big square) has six or seven stalls. Walk past the ones with laminated photo menus and head for the stall where the butcher is pulling lamb straight out of a clay oven set into the floor.

The afternoon tajine question

Tajines are everywhere — and mostly tourist-trap tepid. The exception is Djaja Mhamra, roast chicken stuffed with vermicelli, almonds and raisins, served at the family-run places behind the Mellah. Or book ahead at Le Jardin for a refined version in a leafy courtyard. Never order a tajine on a terrace overlooking Jemaa el-Fna; those pots have been sitting out all afternoon.

Dinner: street food or white tablecloth

For street food, head to stall 98 on Jemaa el-Fna after 8pm for harira (spicy lentil soup) and grilled merguez. For something more refined, reserve at Dar Yacout for the five-course Moroccan menu in a 17th-century palace, or +61 for modern Moroccan cooking with a Melbourne twist. Both fill up a week ahead.

The sweets you must try

• Chebakia — rose-shaped, honey-soaked, sesame-coated. Best during Ramadan but sold year-round at Ben Salah bakery.
• Sellou — a sesame-and-almond paste that is, essentially, an energy bar from the 14th century.
• M'halbi — milk pudding with orange blossom, served cold, at the tiny stall across from Bab Agnaou.

One thing to skip

The snake-charmer smoothie stands. The ice is usually made from tap water, and we've had to rescue more than one traveller's stomach because of it. Stick to bottled water — sealed, always.

We run a four-hour guided Marrakech food tour that covers five of the places above with a licensed local guide — so you can skip the guesswork. See all Marrakech activities or browse Marrakech day trips.