Eating in Marrakech, Morocco at Jemaa el-Fnaa Square (+ a VITAL TIP to AVOID SCAMS)
We’ve been in Morocco for around 10 days now, and that means we’ve had lots of chances to explore the food scene! One of the parts we love is eating in or near the main square in the medina, Jemaa el-Fnaa. It’s amazing to sit on a balcony overlooking the relatively calm square for lunch, then have dinner in the midst of the utter chaos that the square becomes at night.
Read on to learn about eating and drinking in Marrakech’s restaurants, as well as about eating in Jemaa el-Fnaa square itself. For the visuals, check out this week’s video, where you’ll get to watch the answer to this week’s big question: will Gustavo be brave enough to eat a sheep’s head?!
Restaurant Food in Marrakech, Morocco
Most restaurants in the medina have a fairly standard menu. You’ll find various couscous and tajine options just about everywhere. To see an example of these, check out our video at this link! (And to learn more about what we ate at the night market in the video, head to the bottom section of this post for a full list.)
Prices for tajine dishes start at around 30 dirhams (~$3.25 USD) for a vegetarian tajine, and run up to 100 dirhams (~$11.00) or higher depending on the restaurant and the type of meat, if any, you select.
Couscous prices tend to be about 10 dirhams higher than tajine at the same restaurant. If you’re super hungry, go for the couscous -- but the tajines tend to be plenty filling, especially since they’re served with plenty of bread.
Many restaurants offer a set menu (such as a soup, a tajine, and mint tea or dessert) for a slight savings over what you would pay if you bought all three individually. Regardless of what you order, many restaurants will bring you bread and a bowl of olives at the beginning of the meal.
Eating at Jemaa el-Fnaa at Night
At night, the main square -- Jemaa el-Fnaa -- transforms. It fills with food stalls, each with at least one barker acting as if his life depends on convincing you to go to that particular stall. (The best way we’ve found to escape this is to say we’ve just eaten, which leads to “Maybe tomorrow, remember me, I’m at stall number 72!” and then results in freedom. At least for 10 feet, until the next stall’s hopeful barker spots you.)
Most of these stalls serve nearly identical menus, with a variety of skewers, a few tajine options, and a bunch of side dishes. They also all charge the same prices for the same things.
A few areas have specialty stalls serving other items. There’s a patch of soup stalls, for example, which are amazing if you’re eating on a budget -- a pretty hearty bowl of soup is 3 dirhams (~0.32 USD).
Another area has a few stalls serving spiced cake with a spicy herbal drink to match. Off to one side, several stalls sell steamed snails (say that three times fast!).
Finally, there are also a handful of stalls focusing on serving sheep’s heads. You can order half of a head, a whole head, or even a whole large head. To see Gustavo’s reaction to trying one, check out this week’s video.
What We Ate in the Video:
Gustavo:
Half a sheep’s head, 35 dirhams (~$3.80). Not a lot of meat, and didn’t taste that different -- it was more about the experience of eating a head. Seeing the teeth was pretty hard to stomach.The head was brought to the table along with a spice plate holding salt and cumin.
Gretchen:
Bread with sauce, 10 dirhams (~$1.10). The sauce was good, but I’d been hoping for something more like harissa. This wasn’t spicy at all, and was mostly just tomato.
Moroccan salad, 5 dirhams (~$0.55). This tasted SO much like pico de gallo back home in California. It’s a simple salad of tomatoes, onions, and what tasted like cilantro.
Fries, 5 dirhams (~$0.55). These were neither hot nor crispy, but the salt level was perfect for me (in other words, not as salty as normal fries). They were improved by a generous sprinkling of cumin that was meant for the lamb.
Mixed plate containing eggplant slices, grilled peppers, and what turned out to be a potato cake, 15 dirhams (~$1.65). This was the star of the night for me. The eggplant wasn’t slimy, though it could have been a bit more flavorful. The peppers weren’t spicy, but rather sweet with a hint of smoke, and absolutely delicious. The potato cake, once we established that it wasn’t full of cheese, was incredible. I’d be happy to eat just those all day!
WARNING: DO NOT EAT AT JEMAA EL-FNAA SQUARE WITHOUT READING THIS:
As you’ll see in the video, getting the peppers and potato cake was unintentional. I had ordered just the eggplant (5 dirhams), but the server brought the mixed plate (15 dirhams).
Be alert for this at these stalls. Stalls in Jemaa el-Fnaa Square often “upsell” you in any way possible, and it’s on you to be vigilant and refuse any food they bring that you didn’t specifically order -- even the olives that they bring at the beginning that seem like a free starter. You’ll be charged for them later.
It’s important to note that this is NOT the case at the permanent restaurants, where the appetizer olives really are free -- it’s just at these evening food stalls.