Patti arranged our meals on what we  used to call the Modified American Plan now, curiously, termed the “half-board” plan.  It included breakfasts and dinners, with lunch on our own.  Perhaps a “two-thirds board” plan would be unwieldy.  Our tour producer, director and star actor presciently postulated that we would eat beaucoups Moroccan dishes during our tour and suggested,”we should plan a couple of nights at European restaurants.”  So we did.  Actually, she did.  She also opined that it would add variety to plan some dinners at places other than our host riad.  So she did.  This has its advantages: the rest of us were able to go directly from shopping to eating without missing a beat.

First up was lunch at Café Arabe, located on Rue Mouassine just steps from the souks.  Convenient, clean and featuring a nice selection of Moroccan foods at reasonable prices, including complimentary breads with an aubergine spread and the obligatory olives (Moroccan custom holds, “A table without olives is naked”).  We returned for lunch again the following day.

After having our delicious welcoming dinner at Riad Moucharabieh (think tagine), we ventured outside the medina walls to LaTrattoria.  “Ventured” is perhaps misued here because we never left the medina unless driven by our trusty guide Awesome (Rostom).  The Risotto Primavera was delicious while the Prawns Limoncello were distictly lacking in the latter.  Nevertheless, it was a nice dinner, nicely served and we would all happily return.

For our final night in Marrakech Patti had arranged our extra-special farewell dinner at La Maison Arabe – apparently not related to the Cafe Arabe.  I later read that it was the first riad in Marrakech; opened in 1998, it spawned an industry of colorful, alternative lodgings.  The riad was quite spectacular and the dinner was delicious.  We began with pastillas – filo dough pastries variously featuring fish, vegetables or chicken with nuts,honey and cinnamon – after which I enjoyed a delicious lamb tagine.  As we left, an arriving guest gushed about Patti’s evening wear – complete with a cap purchased from a man on the street in Istanbul (so long ago that it might have been Constantinople).

 

 

It was the perfect end to a perfect visit in Marrakech; though later we learned that there was a flaw in our dinner arrangement.  Because of our “half-board” plan, the tour company arranged to pay the food portion of our bill (“up to 300 MAD/person” when eating dinner away from the riad), to which Rostom added the customary 10% tip, that he sought to collect from us the next day.  We had paid separately for our drinks, per our plan, and had also added 30 MAD/person as a tip on the food portion.  So the staff enjoyed a nice double tip!  To their credit, the tour operator forgave us the tip that Rostom had left.