Backpacking in Morocco🇲🇦: An Enchanting Evening with Marrakesh Food Tours

Next up we head straight into the Medina – those textbook poky market streets that I have also loved in countries like Palestine, Iran, Iraq and Tunisia. Our first stop in here, in retrospect is the highlight of the trip.

2.Sheep Furnace Restaurant: Sheep’s Head and Tangia
I won’t reveal the name of this place but it is in the Medina and is something special. Before we get down to dinner and devouring the sheep, we get to see how they cook it. It’s a huge surprise for me. The sheep are all cooked in an underground furnace.

These furnaces and completely underground, below the Medina. I wouldn’t even know they were there. The dead sheep are lowered down into the furnace by ropes and hooks, and the lid closed. Two hours later the meat is ready to eat. Moroccans don’t believe in wasting food and so tonight we are going to eat as many parts of the sheep as we can.

This includes the roasted sheep’s head and the tangia (sheep meat in local sauce). The highlight here for me is the chance to eat the eyeball. It is the first time in my life to eat the eyeball. I remember seeing it happen in Iran but I never ate it. Now is the time! Bread is provided here but no cutlery of course – we eat as the Moroccans do with our hands.

The sheep’s cheek and the tangia were both delicious and the eyeball was surprisingly good! We also ate the tongue and shin of the sheep. Only William from Denmark and I ate the eyeball, and for this we got a special sticker to say “We ate the eyeball”!

3.Olive Stall – Olives, Lemon and Chilli
Next up, and still in the Medina are some snacks where we can try about 8 or 9 different types of olives. The first 6 are plain olives. The final three are with added sauce and spice. All delicious, all local and sold by market vendors who set their stalls up daily here in the Medina. These can be bought from these little market stalls as any time – just tell the guys how much you want and don’t forget to bargain for a good price.

After the olives, it’s a specially oiled lemon and some very very hot spicy chilli peppers. The chilli peppers are too hot for me to handle – I eat only half of one.

4.Market Stall: Fried Wrap – Msemmen Omara
Another taste of Moroccan street food is up next and again, I devour it. This is cooked using dough right in front of our eyes, from a local lady. This lady has clearly been making these wraps for years – she knows what she is doing. There are two types of wrap sold here – the Msemmen Omara (or the Rghaif She’ema ou Bsla). The taste is like a typical spicy dough wrap which seems to me to be a fusion of what I had tried previously in Palestine, Iran and India, all in one. Except this is nicer. It’s Moroccan and well prepared in front of us by an expert.

5.Doughnut Stall: Singe and Sfinge Bil Be’ed
Around halfway through the tour, another stop in the Medina for fried doughnuts. These are fried right in front of us and there are two types of doughnut we try here. The first one is called Singe and tastes similar to doughnuts I had as a child in Northern Ireland, but with much less sugar and much more oil so it’s definitely a new sensation.

After the Singe doughnut, our chef in front of us breaks an egg and inserts it in between two doughnuts. This is something new to try and looks a bit heavy on the stomach after we have all munched a full doughnut, so luckily we get just a small piece to try. I preferred the one without the egg! But it was cool to try the Sfinge Bil Be’ed too.

6.Local Bakery: Watching the Baking Process
Next up a little bit of local bakery life and we see the real locals at work here and how they work hard and how their expertise is needed to keep Marrakesh functioning day to day.

Here we watch how in the evening the dough is placed into the oven and cooked to be ready for most of the businesses in the nearby streets for the following morning. Trays with twelve pieces of bread are marked in their own special way so they know where the bread will go. The guy working here then puts them all into a stone oven at the back and bakes the bread. He knows what he is doing and is still able to talk to Youssef the whole way through.

The bread is then delivered to different cafes, restaurants and establishments in the city, again it’s a fascinating insight into Moroccan life here in Marrakesh and one that you wouldn’t get if you didn’t book this tour. We didn’t eat any bread at this stop because we already tried that bread at the second stop – we had it with the sheep meal.

7.Hamman Heating System
Another non-food stop next as Youssef gets us inside a cellar and basement room which is one of many hamam heating systems in the city. Having had a Turkish bath in Trabzon and visited Hamams in Iran, Iraq and Azerbaijan, it was the first time I saw the system used to heat it. It is a furnace and basically heated by many different materials including mostly wood, but other items too. It’s hot and smoky in here and we don’t stay too long, but another great little part of Marrakesh life to experience. This is more than just a food tour!

8.Moroccan Hot Dog Stall: Merguez
At the Moroccan “hot dog” stall, again the food is prepared right in front of us by the expert chef here. He has his own cosy little stall here, with a TV on the left showing the live Liverpool v. Arsenal match. Yes, LIVE! Myself and the two Danish lads watch a bit of the match while he cooks us up the Moroccan sausage in a bread roll with spice. This food is known as Merguez. We are also given a water at this stop.

9.Local Restaurant: Cous Cous, Mint Tea and Moroccan Oranges
OK so my stomach got really full after the Merguez but we have at least two more stops left! The next one actually has four items and is in a little hideaway away from the main thoroughfare of the Medina. You would never find this restaurant if you were backpacking alone. It has no name, but it doesn’t need one. The lady that runs this prepares some of the best Cous Cous in town. It takes her two hours to prepare it – that’s how good it is. Before that we have a delicious (and very welcome) cup of hot mint tea plus a salad. Then the Cous Coius arrives. After the COus COus, we are given oranges. Moroccan oranges are great, but the cous cous here was delicious. My only regret is having a small stomach so I couldn’t really eat enough of it, or I’d have had to skip the dessert – final stop.

10.Cactus Stall
Youssef then stops us on the way to the dessert venue, and offers us a cactus fruit each, this is a spontaneous and extra stop. Despite being what I felt was well travelled, this was my first time to try such a fruit! We eat it on a cocktail stick like a lollipop. The taste is superb and it turns our lips red but I don’t like the way there are pips in it! It reminded me of pomegranate and of backpacking in Israel and Palestine all those years ago.

11.Dessert and Smoothie Restaurant
The final stop lives up to all expectations. We are getting a Moroccan Smoothie and I’m really ready for it. I was feeling rather tired that day. I opted for an avocado and milk smoothie (there were other options including orange and mixed fruit). This avocado smoothie was totally what I wanted – I loved it. It was accompanied with some peanuts and mini biscuits as the food tour came to a close around 21.30.