Safi – Three days of music pulls people through Essaouira’s medina from morning until well past midnight, and at some point between sets, everyone needs a real meal.
These are the restaurants worth making time for during your stay.
If you want live music with your meal
Live jazz takes over here nightly, running long after the main stages wind down. The menu offers Moroccan fusion, with Asian and vegan plates alongside it. The welcome is as much a draw as the music.
Stays open well into the evening. The Lebanese-Moroccan menu is built around a tuna steak and a squid tajine, in a small, familial room.
Order the sardine meatball tagine and expect to wait, a sign it’s cooked from scratch rather than reheated. Traditional music plays low in the background. Seating is limited, so don’t leave it for the last minute.
For a quick, honest meal between sets
Regulars order the harira without even glancing at the rest of the menu. Couscous gets served daily here, not just on the traditional Friday. Boxing memorabilia covers the walls of all four tables. Book ahead, it fills up fast.
The host here spends as much time pointing guests toward other good addresses in town as he does serving his own food. Lamb tagine with plums and almonds is among the highlights.
If you want a proper sit-down dinner
Built in the 18th century, this riad still carries its original zellij tilework. It’s the choice for something more composed, a pigeon pastilla and a seafood mosaic built for a slower night.
Restaurant d’Orient et d’Ailleurs
Music here is chosen track by track, never loud enough to get in the way of conversation. The menu mixes French, Moroccan, and Italian plates, served near the Skala in a candlelit room hung with travel photography.
This is the prettiest dining room in town. Complimentary tea and cookies arrive before you’ve even ordered the monkfish kebab, a welcome touch if you’ve been on your feet at the festival grounds all day.
Before the evening’s concerts begin
Essaouira had this kitchen first, before Marrakech ever did. Books and wooden furniture fill the room, organic and fair-trade by philosophy. The banana bread alone is worth the stop.
This is the fast option: recycled 1960s décor, vegan burgers, and daily soup alongside the usual tagines. Ask, and the kitchen will walk you through the story behind each recipe.
Fresh fish and pastillas anchor the menu, with a beef tagine finished in caramelized pears among the standouts. Soft lighting keeps the medina courtyard convivial and easy. Open well into the evening with generous prices, useful if your festival schedule runs past a normal dinner.
With stages spread across the medina and the beach for three days straight, there’s no single right answer for where to eat.
Pick the category that matches the night you want, live music, a quick plate between sets, or something slower. The rest of the evening will follow.
