Around Essaouira with a Paunch

Imagine a wind tunnel which serves fabulous sea food and is constantly sunny. Then sprinkle in some North African bustle, the waft of exotic spices and the occasional call to prayer and you’re mentally in Essaouira. If you enjoy watersports, then you’ll be in paradise.

Having devoured all the guide books and experienced the place for ourselves, we thought we’d share our experience which should help you plan your trip. This is the first video we’ve ever made… so we hope you like it and aren’t too critical!

Where to stay:

We stayed at Riad Casa Lila which was moderately priced, friendly, helpful, very clean and the purveyors of a very superior breakfast served either on the terrace or balcony. I fell in love with their tomato and orange jams. The memory of the tomato jam is cemented in my mind due to me serendipitously reading about it in one of Elizabeth David’s tomes whilst slapping it onto one of their pillowy croissants.

If you’ve got more money to throw around, then Madada Mogador on Mr and Mrs Smith’s site looks very porno as does L’Heure Bleue Palais. If your budget is more modest then Trip Advisor has a range of decent Riads on show. Ocean Vagabond looks pretty good.

Where to eat:

We ate very well indeed. Our highlights included:

An imaginative meal in a creative setting at Elizir

A progressive North African meal at Patio

Excellent tagines at Laayoune

Half decent fish at Sam’s on the waterfront

Lowlights included the overcooked fish and hassle of the harbourside barbecue which I had hoped was going to be awesome and the worst fish soup I’ve ever eaten at an anonymous tourist trap in the main plaza. It was like eating cumin spiced glue.

Villa Maroc is regarded as setting the standard for traditional Essaouiran food. But you pay handsomely for it. After Five has its fans as well but unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to eat there.

Where to enjoy a sundowner:

Taros was the best bar to enjoy a well made drink whilst the sun went down. Get there before the sun has started its rapid descent to avoid missing out on a spot on the terrace. Then enjoy some spiced olives as the harbour basks in the rose tinted evening glow.

After Dark:

When the sun goes down you’ve eaten a belly full of tagine and dried fruit have a stroll around the night market and enjoy the multi sensual smorgasboard of stimulation. Just watch the semi-orchestrated chaos unfold around you and have your camera ready for some good snaps.

Further reading:

Settle in to Gourmet Chick’s Moroccan adventures and then digest Not Eating out in New York’s thoughts.

If you’ve got any thoughts or stories about Essaouira please share them below so we can help people get the most out of their trip.

Chez Sam in Essaouria

Sam’s commands pride of place at the end of the harbour. It overlooks the sea on three sides and is guarded by a flock of ravenous sea gulls, a flotilla of stray cats and is booby trapped with fish heads strewn across the tarmac.

It’s only a short walk, but it’s dark and forbidding. If you’ve ever read a Raymond Chandler novel you’d think you were about to get sapped on the back of the head by Moose Malloy.

Trip Advisor is full of glowing praise for Sam’s. It’s an institution that people have been raving about and returning to for decades. A quick glance at the visitors book reveals the passion people have for the place. It runs to 4 volumes of eccentric prose and elaborate drawings. If you go to Sam’s make sure you give it a read!

We settled in and became instantly obsessed with the table of loud middle aged Australians to our right. Two brothers. Very vocal. Familiar voices. Were they the Chappell brothers who used to play cricket for Australia? Maybe they were…

We shared the best calamari I’ve ever had as a starter. The rings of battered squid were as crunchy as paper thin porcelain and the innards were soft like the inside of a truffle.

For main course I had John Dory which was disappointing. Overcooked and tasting slightly dirty. It came with a mushroom sauce which was bizarre and a rather good ratatouille.

Cowie’s dourade (sea bream) suffered a similar fate. There are few things more disappointing than being served a fish that has been cooked for too long.

Although disappointed by our overdone fish, we had a very memorable meal. Sam’s has plenty of atmosphere and legions of loving fans who adorn the visitors’ book with amusing entries. But, sadly it goes long on theatre and falls short in the cooking department.

This is part of a mini-series of posts about Essaouira.

Elizir is Essaouria’s excellent equivalent of a supper club

Every holiday has it’s culinary highlights, which isn’t surprising given that we plan our trips around our meals! Our best meal by far was at Elizir. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a thrilling display of imagination in a land of tagines and overcooked fish.

Walking into Elizir is like tripping over, bumping your head, accidentally eating a magic mushroom and then entering into an art gallery in a children’s nursery rhyme on Portobello Road. A display of vintage clocks showing the wrong time sits in one corner. In another is a table full of magazines, bizarre telephones and records. All the lighting is incredibly cool. So cool in fact that a photographer from Vogue sat at her table alone taking snaps of the interior whilst we absorbed the atmosphere.

The food is just as creative. A colourful line of dips kicks things off with some soft flat bread to mop it up along with some strongly flavoured olive oil. Tapenade is excellent. A pumpkin dip is a revelation. And some tart goats’ cheese didn’t take any prisoners either.

My squid ink risotto was very good, if a touch dry. It had clearly been made with care and passion and had been seasoned well.

Cowie’s gnocchi with almond pesto was very good too. After five days of couscous and tagines, some risotto and pasta was a real treat.

True to type we went for a safe tagine and a more adventurous version. As is often the case, Cowie’s safety first approach paid off with her excellent lamb and pear tagine. Whereas my more gung-ho choice of chicken and gorgonzola tagine was less successful.

It turns out that creamy blue cheese doesn’t go with slow cooked Moroccan chicken. But lamb with pears and a few pine nuts is awesome.

Feeling very full we, shamefully, shunned dessert in favour of a walk around their enchanting roof terrace where the art gallery continues under a cloudless, twinkling sky.

We’ll forever remember Elizir, as much for the relaxed and imaginative environment as the food – in many ways it’s very close to the feel of a clandestine supper club in a strangers home. It’s a very special place that you simply have to experience if you are paying a visit to Essouria.

Thanks to Gourmet Chick for suggesting Elizir.

This is part of a mini-series of posts about Essaouira.

Overcooked Fish at Essaouira Harbour

We traipsed around Essaouira’s fish market doing our best to avoid being covered in flying fish scales or losing a shoe in a puddle of Piscean guts. We felt a bit like Rick Stein as we tried to talk to the local fishmongers about their displays. Fish of every shape and as many sizes ranging from large to illegally small graced the counters. The best sight was a guy with no teeth tearing apart a conger eel the size of the Amazon and a low point was a man tying to sell us a school of miniature sole which should still have been swimming around in their crèche.

Most people describe the fish market as one of Essaouira’s highlights. And indeed, as a spectacle it is. But as an eating experience, please don’t get your hopes up. Rumours of the fish being exquisite are quite literally overcooked.

After bartering with our fishmonger cum Mitch Tonks we were ushered to a plastic table and served a can of Sprite and encouraged to watch our fish being cooked. We chose a medium sized sea bass, a bunch of prawns, some squid and a couple of “scampi”. As I looked on I was hoping to be impressed by their raw skill and simple cooking technique. But sadly all I wanted to do was ask for my money back, or to push the chef out of the way and take over myself.

The fish were brutally scaled and sawed in half before being salted and then blasted over coals so hot that Dante could write a novella about them. Our platter of fish arrived burnt and drier than Tennessee. A squeeze of lemon would have helped if we had some. But alas, no. A plate of prawns were better, but unseasoned and smelling richly of ammonia. Some squid was OK, but nowhere near as soft as it could have been. And our “scampi” never showed up.

I hate to write such a negative piece about this meal. But the elemental simplicity of barbecued fish is one of my favourite things in the world. We had hoped that it was going to be one of our major highlights. Maybe our expectations were too high? But is it too much to ask for them to be able to cook their amazing fish with care and passion? Rather than just going through the motions…

This is part of a mini-series of posts about Essaouira.

Innovative Cooking at Le Patio, Essaouira, Morocco

Le Patio is hidden away like a hidden strand of crucial DNA in a murder scene. Tucked away down a slightly forbidding side street and manned by a chap in a tunic, it’s got atmosphere spilling out of it like the hole in the Ozone layer.

You can either eat Moroccan/French tapas at the bar, or settle in for a proper dinner. Our table was perched on a small podium which we assumed must once have been reserved for a pole dancer. It meant we could peer out over the restaurant as if we owned the place, which was a great experience. However, it made trips to the toilet a near mortal hazard.

I looked at the menu and did what Cowie hates me doing. I ignored the dishes I knew I’d like and instead became besotted with a starter and main course that sounded unusual. Who could resist “Tangier Bouillabaisse” and “Seafood Pastilla”? Cowie was far more sensible and chose a Moroccan salad to start and grilled sea bass for main course with ratatouille.

My Tangier Bouillabaisse was a devil. It occasionally snarled with harissa which I couldn’t discern in the dark. It wasn’t anywhere near as classy as the classic Marseilles version. But I’m delighted I tried it. Instead of being sweet and deep it was a bit dusty and thin. But the fish was well cooked and potatoes a welcome change from cous cous! If you visit Le Patio make sure you give a go.

My seafood pastilla was one of the best things we ate in Essaouira. A typical pastilla is a flaky pastry shell with a filling of pigeon and almonds. But this one was stuffed full of tender squid, deeply flavoured prawns and generous flakes of slightly anonymous fish held together by a subtle white sauce. It was stunning. I’m keen to give it a go at a dinner party, with a hint of tarragon or fennel.

Cowie’s sea bass with ratatouille was excellent. For once the fish wasn’t overcooked, as we found it to be everywhere else in Essaouira. The ratatouille was sweet, well seasoned and packed full of flavour rather than being the watery afterthought it can sometimes be.

Le Patio is one of the most interesting places to eat in Essaouria. If you are bored of tagines, cous cous and over cooked fish, as you inevitably will be, then Le Patio should definitely be on your hit list.

We agree with one of the commenters on Trip Advisor: “Très agréable”.

This is part of a mini-series of posts about Essaouira.

Top Tagines at Laayoune, Essaouira, Morocco

During Ramadan, Essaouira’s streets empty at sunset as quickly as a lift contaminated by a bad fart. And an hour later they are pulsing with freshly energised life. People who were once at the end of their tether become charming and friendly. Given that I get grumpy after an hour of not eating, I’d make a terrible Muslim. I’d land up sneaking off for an illicit bacon sandwich.

On our first night Ramadan really caught us out. Along with all the other tourists we found ourselves milling around between 7 and 8 trying to find a drink, or better still eat. But nowhere was open. My stomach growled. Cowie got tense. She knows better than anyone else what happens when I’m hungry and there is no immediate prospect of food.

Then we almost tripped over a restaurant called Laayoune which I had read about in a guide book. Before Cowie even knew it we were seated and ordering. The restaurant then filled up quicker than a waiting list for a half price starter home. And as we looked around we could see all the people we’d been in food purgatory with.

I chose a lamb and prune tagine with almonds and Cowie had chicken with preserved lemon and onions.

My lamb tagine was smoldering hot and startlingly aromatic. The couple on the next table could barely contain themselves as they waffled in French about “le bouquet”. The prunes were plumy and sweet, giving the sauce a syrupy consistency that I always fail to achieve when I try to cook a tagine. The meat yielded and flaked, yet was still moist. The sesame seeds and almonds leant the dish a texture that dragged it away from being mush to something more refined. I had to keep both Cowie and the French couple next door at bay whilst I mopped up the remnants of my sauce.

Cowie’s chicken tagine with preserved lemon, onions and sultanas was equally delicious. The meat wasn’t as interesting as the lamb, but what it lacked in substance it made up for in flavour. The sharpness of the preserved lemon balanced coyly with the sweetness of the sultanas and onions to create a dish that was a bit of a mess to look at, but wonderful to eat.

From my experience with tagines, both cooking them and eating them, the best are the simplest. I am guilty of trying to introduce too many flavours when I cook them, when all you need are a few components that are carefully balanced. Lemon + chicken + onions works brilliantly. As does lamb + prunes + almonds. But lamb + preserved lemon + prunes + almonds + sultanas + onions is far less than the sum of its parts. And whatever you do, don’t chose “Tagine Royale” or “Cous Cous Royale”, because what you’ll get is a medley of Moroccan cooking’s greatest hits all on one plate.

We had a lot of tagines in Essaouria and Laayoune is the place that set the mid price benchmark. Don’t expect to feel terribly special or find anything unusual on the menu. But, choose from their range of simple tagines and you’ll be rewarded with a meal that you’ll want to memorise and replicate when you get home.

This is part of a mini-series of posts about Essaouira.

Essaouira Night Market

Cowie and I went on holiday to Essaourira at the beginning of September. We couldn’t get out of Marrakesh fast enough. Within a day we had escaped the panic inducing heat and feral bustle in search of sun, sand, waves and fish.

We’re going to take you on a culinary journey of tagines, fresh fish and Moroccan imagination but only once we’ve set the scene with some photos. The first couple are from the dock at night and the ones that follow are from the incredible market that electrifies Essaourira on a nightly basis.

As soon as the sun dropped an air raid siren announced the transition of day into night. Within seconds the narrow, bustling, twisting streets emptied as the residents all raced home for supper. Our holiday coincided with Ramadan which gave our week an extra cultural dynamic.

Half an hour later and the streets returned to their normal chaotic state and the night market kicked into action…

I became slightly obsessed with the graffiti on this doorway (which according to Joshua’s comment is by a French artist called C215). It seemed weirdly out of place. But this is part of Essaourira’s mystique. It’s well known as an artistic and cultural hot-spot. Not only did Orson Welles film his epic tale of Othello here, but Jimi Hendrix also wrote a song called Castles Made of Sand inspired by Essaourira. It’s a city that is buzzing with artists who flock here for the stunning light and never leave.

They take great pride in the way they present their wares. Nothing short of perfect pyramids is allowed. We watched from afar as young men carefully groomed their colourful tetrahedrons and wondered whether they’d better off not all selling exactly the same thing.

It seemed like the olive vendor must have come from the same stack is high sell it cheap school as the spice man. In fact they probably had the same geometry teacher.

This is one of my favourite pictures. I had to lean against a rickety wooden strut to keep the camera still enough to let the light in. It really captures the vibrancy of the colours and reminds me, in a silly way, of Rick Stein’s “Coast to Coast” book cover. These preserved lemons made the ones you get in a jar from Belazu look very ersatz.

We were overwhelmed by the variety and volume of dates on display. It made me feel very ignorant to have thought that there might only be one type of date, when in fact there seem to be hundreds.

Which is why I like this picture of the date seller looking forlornly out, over his stall, for customers…

… and this one that makes a necklace of dried figs look like a piece of tribal jewelry.

I had to wait for ages for a break in the traffic to take this shot of a man selling mint by the bucketload. Mint tea is to Moroccan culture what a mug of milky, sweet builders is the Britain. No meal, conversation or negotiation is complete without it. We thought we’d prefer it without sugar, but soon learned it’s a lot better laced with something sweet.

We bought some deep fried cinnamon sweets that looked like worms. They were brittle, sticky and luckily not very moreish. Otherwise we could have been there all night and we’d both now be diabetic.

But my favourite photo of the whole lot is of this boy holding what looks like a conger eel. In this context it is as natural as anything. But can you picture it happening back in London? Behind him is Essaourira’s famous fish market where you choose your fish from the slab and they grill it for you as you try not to get freaked out by the fish guts that have seeped through your flip flop or by the number of of bugs that are about to find their way into your body! I’m sure it’s where Mitch Tonks got his FishWorks idea from.

Essaourira is a mesmerising place. Almost every vista is worthy of a photograph. We’ll tell you about some of the amazing food we ate and experiences we had soon.