Morocco's capital eats like a city that cooks for itself, not for tour groups: bissara at dawn on Rue Souika, ras el hanout ground to order in the Marché Central, sardines grilled at Salé's harbour, and rfissa in a lantern-lit riad.
Rabat's covered market from the 1930s: pyramids of violet Beldi olives, preserved lemons, ras el hanout blended and ground to order, and a fish hall where the morning's Atlantic catch is gutted while you wait. Daily 07:00–14:00.
A Rabat institution beside the medina gate, serving harira, tanjia and slow-cooked lamb in a tiled three-floor salon full of civil servants on their lunch break. Beghrir with honey and amlou is served until 11:00.
The medina's old merchants' street, once reserved for foreign consuls, now lined with spice sellers, honey stalls and copper couscoussiers. Saffron sold by the gram, argan oil pressed in the Souss, and khlii preserved beef ladled from clay jars.
An art-deco pâtisserie where French technique meets Moroccan sweets: kaab el ghzal stuffed with orange-blossom almond paste, sesame chebakia, briouat, and millefeuille. Rabat families stop here around 17:00 for mint tea.
The modern city's market, where Rabat home cooks buy Atlantic sole and squid, Zaër beef, and armfuls of coriander and flat parsley. The rear aisle sells confit lemon, capers and twelve grades of olive. Open 07:00–20:00.
A 17th-century riad hidden down a medina alley, with a courtyard of zellij and carved cedar. Rfissa with fenugreek and msemen, mechoui lamb, and pigeon in the old Andalusian style; oud players take the courtyard after dark.
A Souissi villa built inside a working orange grove of some 400 trees, with its own kitchen garden supplying the restaurant. Tea on the terrace comes with almond briouats and orange-blossom pastries; non-residents welcome.
A restored wooden dhow moored on the Bou Regreg between Rabat and Salé, with a deck bar and a lower dining room. Small Moroccan plates, Casablanca beer and Moroccan wine as the sun drops behind the Kasbah walls.
The medina's main artery wakes at dawn: bissara, the thick fava soup finished with cumin and olive oil, msemen griddled to order, harcha semolina cakes with honey, and glasses of sweet mint tea from carts near Bab Bouiba.
Across the Bou Regreg at Salé's working port, buy sardines, sole or squid by the kilo at the auction hall, then carry them to the grill stalls behind it, where they're rubbed with chermoula and cooked over charcoal.
Rabat's student quarter and its densest run of cafés and gelaterias, where Vénézia Ice scoops avocado, date and orange-blossom, and the terraces serve nous-nous — half espresso, half steamed milk — in small glasses.
The bar of Le Pietri Urban Hotel, with live jazz most evenings from around 20:00 and one of the few proper Moroccan wine lists in the capital: Guerrouane rouge from Meknès, Médaillon and coastal Volubilia rosé.