Location: Riad Le Clos des Arts, in a derb off rue Riad Zitoun El Jdid (leclosdesarts.com)
Edibles: salads to start; keftes and couscous; strawberry napoleon dessert
Musings: The bride and groom finally arrived! They have one night in the medina before moving to a riad called Dar Ilham in the Palmeraie area for the wedding festivities. The photographers also arrived that day, in from Singapore. They were obviously travel-weary, but gamely chatted with us all during dinner and made a preliminary plan of action with Melissa and Tony for photos.
Le Clos serves dinner in the central courtyard for 20€ per person. The first course is, naturally, Moroccan salads. I remember five, and they were plated for us individually, rather than brought to the table in little dishes to be eaten family style.
For the main course, Melissa requested keftes, which are lamb meatballs stewed in a tomato-paprika sauce, with eggs cracked on top.
While I think the concept and ingredient combination are awesome, I'd make a few tweaks to this dish. First, I thought the meatballs were sort of dry - which I completely don't understand since it cooks immersed in sauce. Second, I think the eggs were overdone. I would have liked them softer,or even runny, in the center myself. But, as I said, I love the idea of this dish and will definitely try to make a version of it back home.
For dessert, Giorgina arranged for a special treat - a Moroccan-influenced mille-feuille. It's layers of ourka (the same dough we used in cooking class to make the briouates), pastry cream, and fresh strawberries. A lovely end to the dinner.
If you're staying at the riad, dinner there is certainly a great low-key option - for the night you arrive or the night before you leave, for example. It's quiet and peaceful, and saves you from having to negotiate the twisting streets of the medina in the dark. But I wouldn't do it more than once. It'd be a great pity to miss Marrakech's other fantastic eateries out of timidity.
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