Where to eat in Ouarzazate: a few landmarks

Ouarzazate is a town people pass through. You arrive from Marrakech over the Tizi n'Tichka, sleep a night before the Dadès gorges or the dunes, and often eat dinner without having thought about it. That is a pity, because the town and its surroundings eat well, if you know where to look.

The centre and Avenue Mohammed V

Along the main avenue and around Place Al Mouahidine, the restaurants mostly serve travellers: long menus, a bit of everything, fair prices. It is practical when you arrive late. It is not where you eat the food of the region.

The kasbahs and the villages around

The best tables in the area are often outside the centre: in the guesthouses of Tifoultoute, Aït Ben Haddou or the Skoura palm grove. They cook for the guests of the house with what the garden gives, and open the dining room to visitors by reservation. The menu is short, sometimes a single set menu, and that is exactly why it is good: the kitchen knows how many it is cooking for.

What to order

• Tagine: chicken with preserved lemon and olives, beef with prunes, or vegetables. It should arrive covered and steaming.
• Couscous: traditionally on Fridays, but restaurants make it every day. Ask for the seven-vegetable version.
• Pastilla: sweet and savoury layered pastry, with chicken or fish. A celebration dish.
• Rfissa: less known to visitors, it is the dish of big occasions in southern families.

Three pieces of advice

Book. Outside the centre almost everything runs on reservation, often with the order placed in advance, because the dishes take more than an hour.

Eat early or late, but say so. Service usually starts around 6 or 7 pm. If you are coming back late from Aït Ben Haddou, a WhatsApp message is enough for the kitchen to wait for you.

Ask what comes from the garden. In Tifoultoute as in Skoura, many houses grow their own vegetables. It is the best thing on the plate.

At our table

At La Table du Berbère, at Riad Chay in Tifoultoute, chef Jasmin writes a full menu every evening, starter, main and dessert, from the garden's vegetables. Dinner is served from 6 to 10 pm, by reservation. The menu is online.

If this is your first visit, our Ouarzazate food guide explains how meals, bookings and tea work here, and dinner in Ouarzazate covers the evening itself.