Dining In The Foothills Of The Atlas Mountains In Morocco

Morocco is a country known for the variety and excellence of its food and there are so many excellent restaurants in Morocco (and in Marrakech in particular) that it would be foolish for anyone to pretend to know which one is best. In any given year or month, that would depend a great deal on one's particular tastes and which chefs were having a particularly good season. And Morocco is full of skilled culinary artists.

In the environs of Marrakech there is one particular restaurant made famous by Sir Richard Branson that is so unique that I think it is worth a special visit, an escape into the countryside outside of Marrakech, going south into the great Atlas Mountains to a very special hilltop where Sir Richard has spruced up Kasbah Tamadot since buying it a dozen years ago when he first set eyes on the castle-like resort from high above the earth in one of his famous balloon trips across North Africa.

That was back in 1998. The Kasbah Tamadot resort reopened five or six years later as part of Branson's Virgin Airlines franchise. Sir Richard obviously loves this place, as it seems to get better and better every year, clearly the recipient of his personal attention and affection, and his ability to invest in it.

The Kasbah Tamadot has one of the most extraordinary restaurants in the world, called Kanoun, which serves delicious local and international dishes either indoors or out, with a cozy fireside bar or with breathtaking views out on the terrace, take your pick. Because Kasbah Tamadot has its own extensive market garden, most of the vegetables and herbs you will enjoy here were picked just a few yards from your table. As always, fresh makes a difference.

I went there for luncheon on my last trip to Morocco, served to me and my guests on the terrace, from which vantage we could see for miles in the clear Atlas Mountain air. I began with a light contemporary dish, a mild red pepper gazpacho, accompanied by a timbale of fresh crab and avocado. For dessert, I selected a carpaccio of mango, very tart, with lime sorbet.

On an earlier visit a year or two ago I recall (because I kept a journal of the trip, as I always do!) that I had a rather more substantial lunch, a feathery cauliflower purée topped by cold pickled cauliflower, followed by a pastille of poussin (a very tiny chicken somewhat like a Cornish game hen) crowned by two little crossed hen's legs, and a pear poached in wine. The fresh Moroccan mountain air always stimulates my appetite!

The most famous Moroccan dish is the tagine, a kind of stew that takes its name from the traditional earthenware pot in which it is prepared. The Kanoun tagine is braised very slowly at medium heat, which gives the meat extraordinary flavor and tenderness. The chef likes a tagine that is not as sweet as that one more typically find in Morocco, and for me, this is better suited to my own palate. It is perhaps the finest tagine in the country.