A Taste of Le Marrakech

Le Marrakech
Moroccan Cuisine
52 Alexander Street in Gastown
Vancouver, BC
V6A 1B4 Canada
ph: 604 688 3714

Years ago, I watched a movie called Sabrina, the 1995 version with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. There was this very delicious scene when the two actors where bonding in a Moroccan restaurant relaxing on over-sized pillows while they eat with their hands and play with rose petals. I was drawn. I don't know if it was the very appetizing food, the exotic ambiance or the scene itself but as soon as I finished the movie I went on a search for a Moroccan restaurant. Back home in Manila, I did find a good one but it was interiored very modernly and it lacked the exotic appeal that I was looking for. I wanted the whole Moroccan feel where you feel like you're transported without paying a plane ticket to Morocco and when I moved to Vancouver I never stopped searching for that restaurant until I found Le Marrakech.

I have read about Le Marrakech in Georgia Straight. The article immediately caught my eye as I read the review and I was mostly excited when I read about washing your hands in rose water, belly dancers and the whole big production. This is exactly what I was looking for and I immediately called my friend to try it out.

We headed out to the touristy Gastown area and as we welcomed ourselves in, we were immediately greeted and ushered upstairs. Just by looking at the restaurant's bold choice of colours and intricately designed lamps and decors, I knew that I have found a gem. If the food wasn't all that great, the ambiance would definitely make up for it. Our server donning a bright pink kaftan gave us our menu, a basket of Moroccan bread and their homemade aged butter called smed. We asked another server for suggestions and he told us that if we like spicy the mussel appetizer was a very good choice. We took his advise and added the braised beef on a bed of cous-cous and veggies with that order. We attacked the bread while waiting for the food and we didn't expect it to tickle our tastebuds that much. The bread was filled with spices and the butter was salty, the first bite was over-whelming but as soon as you have jumpstarted your tastebuds, you wanted more. The smed was definitely addicting, well, I am a bread and butter fan but the smed is certainly not your usual, typical butter.

We tried to hold off on the bread as we waited for the mussles and when it arrived, it was a heaping serving and was swimming in spicy broth. It seemed like dipping the buttered bread into the broth was second nature but as soon as the moist bread touched my tongue, my reaction changed. The spiced bread, smed and broth combo gave a more intense flavour that brought exoticism in your palate. It was amazing. The braised beef arrived shortly after. It was served in a clay pot and looking at the portion, we were happy that my friend and I were just sharing one entree. We carefully tore the meat and took a spoonful of cous-cous for that one perfect bite, the raisins added some sweetness to the dish and once again, the flavours created a circus like feeling on my tongue. It seemed like all the flavours wanted to show up all at the same time, sweet, salty, sour, spicy... yummy...

While we were finishing up, a belly dancer started to strut her stuff. We were getting happily entertained as her dancing progressed. The restaurant was definitely an escape to Morocco, everything seemed very authentic. We enjoyed it to the last bit especially when we were chased back in to wash our hands with rose water which sent us leaving in fits of giggles.

Coming to Le Marrakech, I never expected to reinact the Julia Ormond-Harrison Ford moment, definitely not since I wasn't with a boy going on a romantic dinner but I was with a good friend who appreciates the experience of good food and we both know that finding a place that could bring not only the taste of an exotic country but also the feel of it is always worth the visit.

*** this was written several months ago but was never posted. I have recently been to this restaurant for my birthday dinner and was a bit disappointed with the service but I still appreciate what this restaurant is trying to offer.