“Each vendor brought something unique to the table, and I felt like a got a very holistic view of the Moroccan cuisine, from breakfast through to dinner, sweet and savoury.”
— Jacqueline, 2025
01 Food tours
Original food tours, curated with our local tastemakers to showcase the neighbourhood kitchens, markets and family-run eateries that define Casablanca.
Bahja Bites
Casablanca
Eat Casablanca at lunchtime — sardines off the corniche, kefta tagine and warm msemen.
Maghrib Meals
Casablanca
Discover Casablanca's Moroccan kitchen with a French bakery on top — sardines, kefta and msemen.
02 Meet the tastemakers
The local food experts who help us research, refine and lead every A Chef's Tour.
Fresh Atlantic sardines grilled on the corniche, kefta tagines, brochettes fired on charcoal, msemen flaky flatbread. Casablanca's kitchen is Moroccan with a French bakery on top.
04 The pantry
- Atlantic sardines, silver from the world's biggest sardine fleet
- Chermoula, herb and spice paste for grilled fish
- Argan oil, pressed nutty oil for salads and dips
- French butter, held over from the Protectorate for the city's patisseries
- Olives, cured green and violet from Meknes
05 In the kitchen
- Grilling sardines over open charcoal on the corniche
- Baking French pastries in the city's colonial-era ovens
- Sizzling brochettes and kefta over the street grill
- Cooking tagines for the lunchtime canteen crowd
- Rolling briouat filo triangles for the mezze table
06 Eat this first
- Grilled sardines, whole silver fish coated in chermoula and charred
- Tagine kefta, meatballs with tomato, egg and cumin
- Rghaif, square flaky pancakes stuffed with meat or cheese
- Brochettes, charcoal-grilled beef skewers with cumin salt
- Mille-feuille, French pastry served in the corniche patisseries
What happens inside a hammam kitchen
A morning with the cooks who feed the neighbourhood before dawn. Charcoal, dough, the smell of a bakery working its second oven.
09 Recipes
A collection of authentic recipes we couldn't leave behind.
Soft yeasted semolina pancakes covered in a thousand tiny bubbles, cooked on a hot skillet on one side only. Morocco's spongy honey-soaked breakfast.
Spicy merguez lamb sausages grilled hard, tucked into a crusty baguette with sliced tomato, chili sauce and pickles. Tangier's Spanish-Moroccan street lunch.
Cannellini or white beans simmered in tomato, garlic, cumin and paprika until soupy-tender. The Moroccan winter one-pot, eaten with khobz.
Small triangular or cigar-shaped pastries stuffed with spiced meat, cheese or almond paste, fried crisp. Morocco's cocktail-party appetiser, sold at every souk stand.
Sweet, thick set yogurt made from whole milk and rennet, scented with orange blossom. Morocco's oldest dessert, spooned from small clay jars.
Slow-cooked chicken tagine with preserved lemons, cracked green olives and a saffron-onion sauce. Morocco's Friday-lunch classic, eaten with khobz.
10 Field Notes
Quick field notes to help you get accustomed to Casablanca.
Weather
Mild Atlantic climate. Warm summers (25–28°C) tempered by ocean breeze, and cool, wet winters. Spring and autumn are the best months.
Currency
The Moroccan dirham (MAD). Cards work in restaurants and hotels, cash for taxis, cafés, and the medina. ATMs are common.
Language
Moroccan Arabic (Darija) is spoken everywhere. French is the language of business and shopfronts. Basic English is common in tourist areas.
Etiquette
Modest dress in older quarters and religious sites. The Hassan II Mosque is one of the few in Morocco open to non-Muslims. Always ask before photographing people.
Getting around
Petits taxis (small, red in Casablanca) are cheap, always agree the fare or insist on the metre. A tram runs across the centre. Careem and inDrive ride hailing apps both work.
Prayer
Five calls to prayer daily. Friday afternoon briefly slows the city as shops close for the midday prayer.