From the language alone, we knew that we’re now on a different part of Morocco. From French in Casablanca, Rabat, and Sale, the lingua franca changed to Spanish once we arrived in Asilah. And along with the language, we expected the food to somewhat change a bit as well.

ROASTED CHICKEN IS A STAPLE ALONG THE SPANISH-SPEAKING AREAS OF MOROCCO

We had rice on our first meal in Asilah, so we’re definitely loving it here! We sat down at Ali Baba [35.463799, -6.037815], seeing their prices to be reasonable enough. We asked for turmeric fried rice paired with roasted chicken and fries (MAD 30.00 | USD 3.00)—a staple among the Spanish-speaking areas of Morocco. It was kinda strange since the menu was in French, but they were speaking to us in Spanish. Serving size is generous so we decided to scrimp and share. The roasted chicken is extremely flavorful, we decided to eat at the same restaurant the next day.

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VIANDE HACHEE TAGINE OR MEATBALLS TAGINE SERVED WITH KHOBZ AND OLIVES

While we’ve seen a profusion of seafood dishes around Asilah, our budget simply cannot afford it, so our next meal consisted of a Moroccan staple, meatballs tagine (MAD 35.00 | USD 3.50), something we’ve previously tried during our Rabat food trip.

The dish is served with a basketful of circular khobz bread (definitely not our favorite Moroccan bread) and a small plate of olives, which we ignored—Moroccans definitely love their olives, while we hate it with a passion. Again, serving size was good enough for C and I (we asked for a free extra serving of bread) and the hardy khobz was a good pair for the saucy tagine—it soaks the bread and softens it up.

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A BRIOUT CAN EITHER BE SALTY OR SWEET

During our exploration of the Asilah’s Ville Nouvelle or New Medina, I found a bakery selling briouat (MAD 2.00 | USD 0.20), a kind of fried spring rolls which can either be filled with meat or sweets—depending on where you get them. Hint, if its glazed, it’s the sweet kind. I first had this during our Casablanca food trip, and I liked it on first taste. Think, lumpiang shanghai.

BABBOUCHE OR ESCARGOT, A POPULAR AFTERNOON SNACK IN MORROCO

I also, finally, got to sample babbouche, or snails slowly cooked in soup broth filled with all sorts of Moroccan spices, along one of Asilah’s main drags fronting the sea. I actually have been longing to try this ever since seeing locals feast on these along Rabat’s medina every afternoon. A cup of the snails cost ten dirhams (USD 1.00), but since I only had five at the time , I asked if the lady can serve me half. Smiling, she gave me a full cup anyways—which turned out to be more than we can eat. With a very plain and slightly salty taste and nothing to dip it on, we really didn’t like it that much! Lol.

CAN YOU GET A KARMA FOR A SARDINES?

Pension Sahara, our lodging, doesn’t offer complimentary breakfast. While we normally don’t mind since we were looking forward to having m’semen and eggs in the morning, we can’t seem to find stalls selling these in Asilah. So, we resorted on buying canned sardines, which is queerly named Karma (MAD 6.00 | USD 0.60) and paired it with bread (MAD 3.00 | USD 0.30).

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A 24 DIRHAMS BREAKFAST SPREAD

But for our last breakfast in the city, we decided to splurge a bit, hitting one of the local cafes lining Avenue Mohamed (V, not!) El Hassani. The Complet breakfast fare (MAD 24.00 | USD 2.40) consisted of scrambled eggs, khobz, wheat bread, juice, and coffee. We then added hard boiled eggs (MAD 2.00 | USD 0.20) from a nearby store and an overly cooked m’semen bread (MAD 3.00 | USD 0.30) from the market. Perfect!

 

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