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Africa & Middle East · Morocco
Where to eat in Marrakech
Marrakech eats in the open air, from the smoke-filled stalls of Jemaa el-Fna to riad courtyards serving slow-cooked tagines and pastilla. A younger generation of chefs now treats Moroccan cooking as haute cuisine.
Marrakech at a glance
- What to eat
- Tagine and couscous; Grilled meats (kefta, merguez, brochettes); Pastilla; Harira and bissara; Snails in cumin broth (babouch).
- When to go
- Best: March–May and October. Also good: September and November. Hardest: July–August.
- Top tables
- This guide lists 5 award-winning restaurants, starting with La Grande Table Marocaine, Sesamo, +61 and Le Petit Cornichon.
- Where locals eat
- Local favorites off the prestige lists include Amal Centre, Mizaan, Naranj and Maison Reine.
- Markets
- Jemaa el-Fnaa food stalls.
The dish to eat here
Tanjia
Beef or lamb slow-cooked in a clay urn with preserved lemon, saffron, cumin and smen, buried overnight in the ashes of a hammam furnace.
The best three: Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha, Le Trou au Mur, Le Jardin.
On the Restaurant 100
- La Grande Table Marocaine No. 8 in Africa
- Al Fassia No. 14 in Africa
- Nomad No. 21 in Africa
- Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha No. 25 in Africa
37places in Marrakech, ready to save to your trip
5Dishes to tryWhere to eat each one, and how to cook it at home10Romantic dinnersTen tables for date night
What is in the 37
5 award-winning8 local favorites1 markets10 romantic dinners5 breakfast spots10 new openings3 dish spots
Photos: Jemaa el-Fnaa food stalls: Boris Macek, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
What to eat in Marrakech, and where
Each dish comes with the places that do it best. Tap Add to my trip on the ones you want, or find them on the map above.
Tagine
slow-cooked stew in a conical clay pot, e.g. lamb with prunes
The 3 best places to eat it in Marrakech
- 1Sahbi Sahbi
Order: Lamb tagine with aubergine and sesame
Local favorite for classic Moroccan dishes.
From our verified guide listings - 2Nomad
Order: Slow-cooked lamb shoulder with prunes
Local favorite doing a modern take on lamb with prunes.
From our verified guide listings - 3Amal Centre
Order: Fish tagine
Training-centre restaurant with home-style cooking.
From our verified guide listings
Pastilla
flaky pastry of pigeon or chicken with almonds and cinnamon sugar
The best place to eat it in Marrakech
- 1Sahbi Sahbi
Order: Pigeon pastilla
Local favorite serving a good pigeon pastilla.
From our verified guide listings
Tanjia
Marrakech's own jar-cooked beef or lamb, braised in the embers of a hammam furnace
Where to eat it: we are still verifying the best places for this dish.
Mechoui
whole lamb roasted in a pit until it falls apart
Where to eat it: we are still verifying the best places for this dish.
Couscous
traditional Friday dish with vegetables and meat
The best place to eat it in Marrakech
- 1Amal Centre
Order: Friday couscous
Known for its Friday couscous.
From our verified guide listings
The most celebrated tables
The top 5 restaurants in Marrakech, per MENA's 50 Best 2025.
More award winners
La Grande Table Marocaine
MENA's 50 Best #22 (2025)
Refined, palatial Moroccan cooking, the city's highest-ranked table.
Sesamo
MENA's 50 Best #32 (2025)
Italian fine dining ranked in the regional top 35.
+61
MENA's 50 Best #35 (2025)
Casual Australian-style café and dinner spot, well placed for a Marrakech outlet.
Le Petit Cornichon
MENA's 50 Best #46 (2025)
French-style neighbourhood bistro on the regional list.
La Grande Brasserie by Hélène Darroze
MENA's 50 Best #48 (2025)
Brasserie cooking from chef Hélène Darroze.
When to go and what is in season
Marrakech food calendar: month by month → What is in season, what to eat and the food festivals each month.
JFMAMJJASOND
Peak Mar–May, OctShoulder Sep, NovHard Jul–Aug
Why these months
Nomado Travel (2026 guide, undated): Mar-May and Sep-Nov are the strongest windows, October the top pick for first-timers; Jul-Aug medina very hot (35-38C highs); Easter and Christmas-New Year price spikes; winter days 18-20C but cold nights (7-9C) and limited riad heating. Shoulder months are the source's late-Sep/early-Oct and mid-Nov/early-Dec, simplified to 9 and 11.
Closures to plan around
- Ramadan: many small local restaurants close during daylight hours; restaurants and cafes in tourist areas generally stay open; evenings after iftar are lively. Dates shift yearly (Nomado Travel)
- Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha typically close small businesses for 2-3 days; dates shift yearly (Nomado Travel)
- Many medina restaurants do not serve lunch before about 11am-12pm and some pause in the late afternoon; evening service runs to 10-11pm (Nomado Travel food guide)
Meal costs and tipping (MAD)
- Casual: 30-80 street food on Jemaa el-Fna; 40-70 tagine or couscous at simple medina eateries
- Mid-range: 150-400 incl. non-alcoholic drinks (Nomado Travel); CONFLICT: Travel Talk Tours (Apr 2024) says 50-150
- Tasting menus from: 500-900 fine dining/palace restaurants; top Palmeraie hotel tables 1,200+
- Tipping: Nomado: 10% standard at sit-down restaurants where service is not included, round up at simple cafes. Travel Talk Tours: about 10% at the best restaurants.
From published guides and tourism boards. Months are our mapping of how guides describe the seasons; 2027 event dates are expected, not confirmed. Prices come from single sources of varying age, so treat them as a rough guide. Compare cities by month
Secret discoveries
Locally loved places that are not on the big prestige lists.
family-run
Amal Centre
Order: Seasonal salads (lentil, cauliflower, leek), fish tagine, and the Friday couscous
Home-style Moroccan cooking with low prices, filled with a mix of locals and travelers; the centre also supports a training cause.
Seen in timeout.com · worth confirming hours before you go
counter
Mizaan
Order: Kefta, labneh and harissa dishes as shared plates
Casual sharing-plate spot in Gueliz with flexible pricing, away from the medina crowds.
Seen in timeout.com · worth confirming hours before you go
family-run
Naranj
Order: Kibbeh, fatet batinjan and the chicken salad, shared
A Lebanese spot inside the medina with generous portions and modest prices, a change of pace from tagine menus. Single source (Time Out), so medium confidence.
Seen in timeout.com · worth confirming hours before you go
café
Maison Reine
Order: Heart of lettuce with pistachio dust; grapefruit pavlova
A small vegetable-forward terrace with a vintage shop attached; plates start around 70 DH. Single source (Time Out), so medium confidence.
Seen in timeout.com · worth confirming hours before you go
café
Farmers
Order: Squash blossom tacos
A cosy farm-to-fork newcomer (opened 2024) in Gueliz; check it is still open before going. Single source (Time Out), so medium confidence.
Seen in timeout.com · worth confirming hours before you go
institution
Sahbi Sahbi
Order: Fresh bread with the multi-dish Moroccan salad, lamb tagine with aubergine and sweet sesame, pigeon pastilla.
Time Out's reviewer calls it the city's best for flavor and style, in a striking room of carved wood ceilings and big lanterns. Prices are high but seen as fair.
Seen in timeout.com, timeout.com · worth confirming hours before you go
bar
Pétanque Social Club
Order: Pizzas, clam cassoulet, date shake, grilled bream
A garden-and-Art Déco bar-restaurant that shifts from relaxed brunch to romantic evenings at modest prices.
Seen in timeout.com, timeout.com · worth confirming hours before you go
institution
Nomad
Order: Calamari salad with green chermoula, or the slow-cooked lamb shoulder with prunes.
A four-floor rooftop above the spice square serving modern Moroccan plates since 2014; book ahead and request the top terrace.
Seen in timeout.com, tablejourney.com · worth confirming hours before you go
Food markets in Marrakech
Chefs and guides in Marrakech
Cooking classes, chef hosts and food-guide businesses.
- La Maison Arabe cooking workshops Chef / cooking school
Moroccan cooking with local instructors - Marrakech Food Tours Food / market guide
Marrakech souk visits and Moroccan food tastings
More in Africa & Middle East
Awards come from the guides named on each listing (MENA's 50 Best 2025). Researched October 25, 2026. Restaurants change; confirm hours, reservations and current stars before you go. Some addresses, phone numbers and websites come from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), so call ahead to confirm. Local favorites are editorial picks, not rankings.
Chef Amazing’s lists for Marrakech: where locals eat, new openings, romantic dinners, ice cream, cooking classes and more, each place with what to order. Cooking classes in Marrakech: who teaches, what you cook, how long and how to book.
Every place in this guide, A to Z (26)
- +61 Marrakech
- Amal Centre Gueliz
- Café des Épices Medina, Rahba Kedima
- Farmers Gueliz
- Jemaa el-Fnaa food stalls
- L'Ancien Café Medina
- La Grande Brasserie by Hélène Darroze Marrakech
- La Grande Table Marocaine Marrakech
- La La La
- La Maison Arabe cooking workshops
- Lagon & Jardin
- Le Petit Cornichon Marrakech
- Maison Reine Near Bab Doukkala
- Mandala Society Medina
- Marrakech Food Tours
- Mizaan Gueliz
- Naama
- Naranj Riad Zitoun el Jdid, Medina
- Nomad Medina (Rahba Kedima)
- Pâtisserie Amandine Guéliz
- Pétanque Social Club Gueliz (Bd el Mansour Eddahbi)
- Ritzi
- Sahbi Sahbi Gueliz area (Bd el Mansour Eddahbi)
- Sesamo Marrakech
- Snack Toubkal Jemaa el-Fna
- Zama Zama
Chef Amazing · Will Travel for Food · Food cities · 250 food markets · The Best 100