7 Best Restaurants in Fez and the Middle Atlas, Morocco

This popular bistro-style café-cum-restaurant is set in the delightful oasis of Jardin des Biehn. The daily changing chalkboard menu reflects the Moroccan chef’s love of Gallic gastronomy, as he happily mixes Moroccan and French culinary influences, using fresh ingredients from the market and the owners’ organic garden. Feast on meat or fish; vegetarians are well catered to with delicious quiches, soups, and salads. Eat alfresco in the garden or on the rooftop under the sun and stars, or in the brightly colored interior room with lots of creative decorative touches, including nods to the Biehns’ Provençal roots. 

Set in a stylish reinvented riad, a mix of contemporary decor and antique features at this women-owned restaurant matches the focus on modern Moroccan fusion. Multiple seating areas are spread over three floors, from the light-filled patio flanked by a living wall to the rooftop with medina views. The menu incorporates Mediterranean influences and international ingredients alongside a new take on Moroccan dishes, such as black couscous with beef and caramelized pumpkin, and lamb shank with grilled almonds. Pair it with a creative mocktail, and don’t miss the poached pear with rosemary, served with date coulis and amlou ice cream. 

The menu features Mediterranean-influenced fare such as steak tartare and gnocchi with truffle cream, and Moroccan favorites including pigeon pastilla, all backed up with an impressive wine list. One of the city’s most stylish eateries, the minimalist design channels industrial chic with rough-hewn stone walls, slate floors, and floor-to-ceiling windows, complemented by sleek contemporary furniture.

One of the city’s best fine-dining eateries is in the strikingly beautiful courtyard of hotel Dar Roumana, where Moroccan chef Youness Toumi creates two- and three-course fixed-price Franco-Moroccan fusion menus. The menu makes the most of seasonal produce from top local producers in creative salads, such as figs with crispy pancetta, goat cheese, and date dressing, and a meat or fish dish like a perfectly cooked veal T-bone or pan-fried John Dory. Desserts are sumptuous, like vacherin and black cherries or Sephardic bitter orange and almond cake. There’s an excellent wine list, too.

They say the best Moroccan food is served at home, and Dar Hatim is the next-best thing. In the convivial, exquisitely tiled dining room of this family home-turned-restaurant, you can choose from three three-course set menus of traditional Moroccan dishes. Vegetarians can be catered to as well. It's tucked away in a corner of the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter of the medina, and they will escort you from your lodgings. 

If you seek a change from tagines, head to the sophisticated surrounds of the Hotel Sahrai and this classic bistro, decked out in soothing neutral tones with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the terrace. Steak frites and chocolate fondant are the go-to dishes, washed down with a fine French red, but Italian dishes, the catch of the day, and burgers are also on the menu. Sunday brunch is expansive and popular.

This fine-dining restaurant sits on the top floor of Palais Faraj, with stunning views over the medina—especially from the terrace—making it especially romantic at night. The decor is sleek and sophisticated, the service is attentive, and the chef has re-created age-old Fassi recipes. Start with a selection of cooked vegetable salads—smoky eggplant, carrots glazed with honey, delicately spiced roasted peppers—then try one of the slow-cooked tagines, such as the chicken with olives and preserved lemon or the veal shank, which falls off the bone. There's a Mediterranean menu available in the evening.