Click on photos to enlarge.

As I write this we’re in Morocco – Fes.  Foreign Writes interrupts the Russia report for a sneak peak at our current adventure:

He’s at the door at 7:30.  We follow him into the Fes night through streets and alleys, up ramps and around corners, until we wonder just where he’s taking us.  He turns down another narrow alley and stops in front of a door.  Sure enough, there’s a small plaque indicating Dar Roumana.  He pushes the buzzer.  A bow-tied, black-suited Moroccan opens the brass-studded door and leads us into an Arabian nights fantasy – the restored riad that is now one of Fes’s best restaurants.

Five white-clad tables sit on a geometric tiled floor in what was once the center courtyard of a wealthy Fassi’s attempt to recreate paradise.  Candles burn around the central fountain.

 

An alcove lined with damask covered sofas, cushioned in scarlet, is topped by a carved cedar ceiling painted in reds and greens and golds.

The walls are an intricate tile pattern in green and blue and yellow, above the tiles, an impossibly intricate  design in carved plaster.  We’ve learned that the technique required master artisans to tease out their symmetrical designs of flowers and leaves with tiny knives in almost dry plaster – using no pattern but what they carried in their heads.

We are the only guests – it’s still early for dinner in Fes.  We choose a table near the alcove and become aware that 20’s era jazz is playing.  I immediately picture bead-dripping flappers, slim French beauties, dancing with their escorts, the colonial masters of Morocco from 1906 to 1956.

But here is our waiter, smiling, handing us menus.  So hard to make choices between the four starters and main courses.  I’ve learned my lesson – no first course if there’s to be any hope of finishing the entree – AND dessert.  Mark has no such limitations and orders cuttlefish in a spicy tomato sauce.

 

 We both decide we can’t forego the veal T-bone.  We sip a good Moroccan Syrah, dip warm local bread in spicy olive oil, and nibble on addictive olives while we wait.  The dining room of chef Yours Idrissi is starting to fill.

The veal is the best we’ve ever tasted and we finish every bite.

 

 

Mark orders a bitter orange and almond cake with lemon yogurt and orange sorbet.

 

 

 

I can’t resist the tart of

dark chocolate with vanilla bean ice cream.  Altogether, a wonderful meal.  Mark’s three courses set us back $30.  My two courses – $27.

Our guide waits  outside the heavy door to lead us back through the labyrinth of 10,000 streets that is the Fes medina.

Hope you’ll be here for more Morocco adventures!