Eeating and meeting in the Rif > Food > Restaurant

Restaurant

There are mainly three types of eateries in Rifbergen.

While I’m at it, categorising, I can group restaurants into two types: expensive and cheap.

Expensive restaurants

I have two definitions of expensive restaurants. One is that the food is expensive by Moroccan standards. I have been to three such restaurants.

A restaurant in Marrakesh where I ate a vegetarian tagine and drank bottled water for about 140 dirhams. The food was okay, although I didn’t feel particularly full. The tagine dish itself was cracked.

A hotel restaurant in Marrakesh where another person and I had breakfast for 109 dirhams. Tea, a bland pancake and a sandwich with scrambled eggs. Beside the eggs, a few salad leaves with insects on them.

A restaurant in the Hay al-Matar area of Nador. I bought spaghetti Bolognese for 100 dirhams. It tasted like Swedish school meals.

My other definition of an expensive restaurant is that the staff wear black and white uniforms and speak formally to the guests. In places like that, it feels as though I’m in a hospital. No one asks where I learnt Arabic, no one jokes with me. It’s simply boring.

Cheap restaurants

All my favourite restaurants in the Rif Mountains have cheap, or at least reasonable, prices. For example, a chicken dish with fresh vegetables for under 30 dirhams and spaghetti Bolognese for 35 dirhams. The food is best at these places. What’s more, it’s easy to have a chat with the staff and practise your Rifiya.

Food at restaurants

Much of the food served at restaurants is the same as that found in fast-food restaurants.

Many restaurants also have tagine on the menu. Several have a charcoal grill where you can get kebabs with, for example, kefta, chicken, liver or prawns. Many restaurants have at least one type of soup. And then there are restaurants that specialise in baked potatoes.

Chickpeas and beans are tasty, cheap and filling. They are usually available at Halabiyas but also at simpler restaurants.

There are, of course, restaurants that specialise in fish. But even ordinary restaurants usually have fish dishes, such as fried anchovies.

Several restaurants serve couscous, but only on Fridays.