Since 2018
La Table du Berbère
A table in Tifoultoute
Ten minutes from the centre of Ouarzazate, past the last roundabout, the road runs out towards the kasbah of Tifoultoute. The riad is on the right, behind a terracotta wall. The restaurant is inside.
What we hold to
Fire, earth, hospitality
Fire
Tagines cook slowly over embers, in clay. Nothing is rushed, nothing is reheated.
Earth
Vegetables from the garden behind the house, olive oil, saffron from Taliouine, barley and wheat.
Hospitality
A table is set for you the way it is set for family. Tea first, and no one hurries you.
Since 2018
A table in Tifoultoute
La Table du Berbère opened in 2018 inside Riad Chay, a guesthouse built in the local way: thick walls, a patio in the middle, a garden behind. The idea was simple. Cook for the people staying at the riad the way families cook here, then open the door to everyone else.
The kitchen is Moroccan and Berber, and nothing else. Chef Jasmin writes a menu each day around what the garden and the market give: a starter, a main, a dessert. Tagines cook slowly in clay, couscous is steamed twice, pastilla is folded by hand.
Dinner is served from 6 to 10 pm and the restaurant takes reservations only, so the kitchen knows how many it cooks for and can take its time.
In the kitchen
Berber cooking
Berber, or Amazigh, cooking is the food of the villages of the Atlas and the pre-Sahara: slow, generous, built on what grows nearby. Barley and wheat, olive oil, dates, almonds, saffron from Taliouine, vegetables from irrigated plots along the river.
The tagine is its emblem, a conical clay pot in which meat and vegetables cook in their own steam. Couscous is the dish of Fridays and family gatherings. Rfissa, msemen soaked in a chicken and lentil broth, is cooked for births and homecomings. These are the dishes we serve.
Tifoultoute, Ouarzazate
Ouarzazate
Ouarzazate sits at 1,100 metres where the Drâa and Dadès valleys meet, on the southern side of the High Atlas. It is the gateway to the desert, the town of the film studios, and the base for visiting Aït Ben Haddou, the ksar twenty-five minutes to the north-west that appears in so many films.
Tifoultoute, where we are, is a village five kilometres west of the centre, known for its kasbah above the river. Most of our guests come for dinner after a day at Aït Ben Haddou, the studios or the Fint oasis, or on their way to and from the Drâa valley and the dunes.
In brief
- Opened
- 2018
- Cuisine
- Moroccan and Berber
- Service
- Dinner, 6 to 10 pm, every evening
- Spaces
- Dining room, patio, garden, rooftop
- Address
- Riad Chay, Douar Tifoultoute, 45000 Ouarzazate
Riad Chay
The restaurant belongs to the family behind Riad Chay, the guesthouse that surrounds it, and Afla Rooftop. Guests of the riad eat at the table; everyone else is welcome with a reservation.
Visit Riad Chay
Join us for dinner
Reserve a table
Dinner every evening from 6 to 10 pm at Riad Chay, Tifoultoute. By reservation only.
Latest from the table
The restaurant, the plates and the evenings, day after day.
