Six o'clock, back from Aït Ben Haddou or a morning at the film studios. The children are tired and hungry, one of them fell asleep in the car, and nobody wants a long evening. Family dinner in Ouarzazate works best when you plan around that moment rather than against it.
Eat early
Moroccan families often eat late, but restaurants that welcome travellers open their dining rooms early. At La Table du Berbère, our own restaurant, dinner service starts at 6 pm, which suits small children who need to be in bed by eight.
The other trick is to order before you arrive. Dishes cooked to order take time: our menu needs about an hour and a half once ordered. If you send your choices by WhatsApp in the afternoon, or pick them in the online booking form, the starters can reach the table soon after you sit down, instead of after a long wait with hungry children.
What children usually like
Moroccan cooking is generally aromatic rather than hot, and when there is heat it tends to come from harissa served on the side. Most children find something they enjoy without any adaptation.
From our carte, the dishes that tend to work for younger guests:
- Nems or briouates: crisp, eaten with the fingers, a safe start. Both are served as a trio that includes a cheese one, handy for children wary of meat.
- Vegetable soup, mild and warm on a cool evening.
- Seven vegetable couscous with chicken: soft grain, gentle broth, a dish made for sharing.
- Berber tagine with chicken and vegetables: tender, lightly spiced, eaten with bread.
- Crêpes with chocolate for dessert, or the orange with cinnamon for something lighter.
Every guest composes a menu with one starter, one main and one dessert, and mint tea and water come with it. If a small child will only manage half a portion, tell us when you book; it is easier to plan than to improvise.
Sharing is normal here
In Moroccan homes the family eats from the same large dish, each person from the side in front of them, with bread used as a spoon. Children grow up eating this way, and couscous in particular is a dish for sharing. For older children it is an easy introduction to local manners; our Ouarzazate food guide has a short section on table etiquette if you want to prepare them, and our page on where to eat couscous in Ouarzazate explains how the dish is served.
The practical things parents ask
High chairs? Yes, high chairs are available. Mention it in the notes field when you book so one is ready at the table.
Room to breathe? The restaurant is inside Riad Chay, with a patio and a kitchen garden where the vegetables grow, and long tables in the stone dining room meant for families and groups. Children are welcome. As anywhere with stairs and a garden, keep an eye on the youngest.
Allergies or picky eaters? Tell us when booking. The chef can adapt the menu with notice, far less easily an hour before service.
Car seats? We are about ten minutes from the town centre by car or taxi, with parking on site. If you rely on taxis, bring your own child seat: it is not something to count on locally.
Fitting dinner into a family day
Days around Ouarzazate are long and dusty: the ksar of Aït Ben Haddou, the studios, the oasis of Fint, the road towards the gorges or the desert. With children, a good rhythm is a morning visit, a quiet lunch and a rest through the heat, a short outing in the late afternoon, then an early dinner. Our one day in Ouarzazate itinerary can be shortened along those lines.
Travelling as a large party, three generations or two families together, more than eight people in all? Book at least a week ahead and read our notes on group dinners in Ouarzazate.
We write this journal, and we are obviously recommending our own table. Wherever you end up, the same rules hold: book early, order ahead, ask for a high chair, and eat before the children reach the end of their patience.
