Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha

Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha (ruelle des méchouis)

Pit-roasted lamb and tanjia, sold by the kilo

Budget

About 80–150 dirham pp

Address

Souk Kessabine, the lamb-roasting lane just behind the northeast corner of Jemaa el-Fnaa

In the short lane of lamb roasters off the northeast corner of the square. The stars are mechoui, whole lambs roasted for hours in an underground pit oven, and tanjia, Marrakech's own stew of beef, garlic, cumin, saffron and preserved lemon slow-cooked in a clay jar. You order by weight; the meat lands on paper with bread and a pinch of cumin salt. Rough and ready, eaten with your hands, and the meat falls apart along the grain.