11 Best Restaurants in Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco

Loved by locals and visitors alike, Dar Naji is one of the city's most authentically Moroccan, medina-based restaurants and features interesting dishes more often found in Moroccan homes. Look for trid (soft layers of pastry layered with a meaty sauce) and medfouna (a rustic stuffed bread). Prices are reasonable, and attention to the quality of the salads, tagines, and couscous dishes is unrelenting. 

In a palatial medina house, this atmospheric restaurant serves gourmet versions of traditional Moroccan cuisine, with live Andalusian music as a charming backdrop. Well-signposted from Avenue Laalou, it's in the medina close to Kasbah des Oudayas; in the evenings, a man with a lantern waits at the nearest medina entrance to guide you to the restaurant. Alcohol is served.

In the stylish Hotel L'Iglesia, La Capitainerie has tables that spill out onto the esplanade as well as a lovely dining room that highlights local tradition by displaying numerous period objects. The menu revolves around seafood with a Moroccan edge; you can order à la carte or choose a fixed-price menu; both change daily. There's a decent wine list as well as a bar area for evening drinks.

Casablanca's first and most cherished Moroccan restaurant has dining rooms with a quintessential Moroccan atmosphere and a lovely patio with a centuries-old tree. The excellent cooking has a refined touch: the salads are delectable, and the tagines bubble with the most sensational of aromas. 

Spread over several floors, this cute café serves tasty Breton-inspired buckwheat crepes, good quality coffee, and refreshing fresh juices that are just the ticket on hot days. You can spoil yourself with some divine Moroccan pastries, too.

The Café Maure is a charming place in the Oudayas gardens of the kasbah to pause for a glass of tea and local pastries. The shaded terrace is decorated with mosaic tilework and looks across the river to Salé.

A Casablanca institution, this pretty, blue-and-yellow-theme open-air restaurant is set into the city ramparts overlooking the marina. It may serve the best Moroccan breakfast in town; a pastry and mint tea make for a perfect break from sightseeing; and they also serve splendid Moroccan salads and tagines for lunch and dinner. 

If you're looking for genuine local food, Le Petit Beur (aka Dar Tagine) has it all: couscous, brochettes, tagines, and harira (a chickpea-based soup with vegetables and meat) served in a friendly, casual setting. The pretty tiled walls and painted ceilings add a further level of authenticity.

This landmark café in downtown Rabat has been around since 1997 and serves the city's best milk shakes and ice cream in a large, leafy garden. Always busy with students and businesspeople, there's Wi-Fi to check your email while you drink your coffee. A full range of main-course meals is also available.

This popular restaurant and café sits right next to the rocky beach at Temara, overlooking the sea. It's the perfect place for fresh fish, though meat-eaters are not forgotten. It's open for lunch and dinner and alcohol is served.

This is the place to discover a delicacy from Marrakesh—the tanjia (a type of casserole slow-cooked in a large earthen jar in the coals at the hammam)—along with other authentic Moroccan dishes. It’s cozy and friendly, with very reasonable prices. Alcohol is available.