Fes cooks the way it builds — slowly, in layers. Three days move from the spice souks and shared neighbourhood bakeries of Fes el-Bali to pigeon pastilla, snail broth at R'cif and mint tea poured from arm's length.
The medina's spice souk beside the Kairaouine: cones of cumin and paprika, ras el hanout blends of 20-plus spices, saffron threads and jars of preserved lemon. Stalls trade roughly 09:00–19:00, quiet Friday midday.
A lane of charcoal grills near R'cif skewering kefta, merguez and boulfaf liver wrapped in caul fat, served with cumin, salt and round khobz. You point at the raw meat, it is weighed, then grilled while you wait.
The market that actually feeds the medina: olives cured nine different ways, barrels of smen aged butter, herb sellers, live-weight poultry stalls and carts of prickly pear peeled to order. Loudest between 15:00 and 18:00.
Every Fes quarter shares a wood-fired ferran where households send trays of risen dough, and tagines, to be baked. Bakers track whose bread is whose by the scored marks families press into the crust before delivery.
Half-day class in a riad kitchen on Oued Zhoune, starting with a guided shop in the nearby souk, then chicken-and-olive tagine, cooked salads and msemen folded by hand. You eat the results on the terrace.
An overgrown courtyard serving medina dishes that rarely reach restaurant menus: mechoui lamb shoulder ordered a day in advance, snail broth, fig-leaf ice cream and saffron-poached pear, under fig and pomegranate trees.
A restored townhouse off Talaa Kbira, opposite the water clock, known for its camel burger, fig-and-goat-cheese salad and lemon tart. Also runs afternoon cooking sessions, Arabic language tables and Sufi music nights.
Chef Najat Kaanache's tasting menu of seven to nine courses rebuilds Fassi cooking — pastilla taken apart and reassembled, camel, foraged herbs, local river fish — in a tiny room off Zkak Rouah with no printed menu.
Just inside the Blue Gate, fryers turn out sfenj doughnuts from around 06:00, cauldrons hold bissara fava soup finished with olive oil, cumin and paprika, and griddles turn harcha semolina cakes eaten with amlou or jam.
Carts around R'cif simmer snails in a broth of thyme, aniseed, liquorice root, orange peel and gum arabic. You get a bowl, a pin to pull them out, and the strained broth afterwards as a digestive chaser.
The covered market under the Bab Semmarine arch stocks the Mellah pantry: salt-preserved lemons in brine, dried figs, dates sold by the kilo, cured olives and sellou nut paste weighed out at the sweet stalls.
One of the few licensed bars near the old city, on a terrace overlooking the Jnan Sbil gardens and the medina walls. Tapas plates, Moroccan Domaine wines by the glass and cold Casablanca beer until late.