So for my 5 night, 5 day trip to Paris in June, I’m thinking of one non-French dinner. I do love Moroccan food, and the above two both have received good reviews
Any preferences? I’m even open to other ethnic cuisines, like Lebanese - I love Middle Eastern food
On another board, a few Parisians recommended that travelers stick to French and try different regional types…for instance, Southwest, or Breton. I love the idea, and I can still do that…but I’m thinking a change of pace might be nice
Le Timgad is, in my opinion, overrated. You’ll be quite happy at Le Tagine.
Both, however, are “gentrified” Maghrebi restaurants. Good but there’s nothing like the atmosphere and fragrance of a steamy, cheap, neighborhood ‘couscous de quartier’ in Paris. Many of these are in the North of Paris (18-19 and 20th arrondissements).
And people who visit France from overseas always sound like there’s only one country (Morocco) having a food culture in North Africa. There are other Maghrebi cuisines to try, i.e. Algerian and Tunisian.
For Tunisian, try El-Benna on avenue des Gobelins, or Chez Hamadi on rue Boutebrie. Chez Hamadi’s “red” couscous is a must-try.
For cheap, authentic, slowly-simmered Moroccan food, try Agad’Or in the Barbès neighborhood.
Basra Chez Saïd in the same area: only grilled meats, salads, and delicious soups (chickpea broth, chorba).
Jour et Nuit on boulevard de la Chapelle, also Moroccan, that’s where you can order calf’s foot cooked with white beans or lemon chicken with house-made frites, you certainly won’t find that at Le Tagine.
Restaurant Familial, on rue de Chartres (18th) : salade mechouia, veal tongue…
Wow, thank you so much!! I’ll look into all these restaurants.
To be fair, myself and others are just not familiar with various African cuisines besides Moroccan… I had to look up Maghrebi, to be honest. I think many of us visitors have open minds - we just have to be exposed to these different cuisines (in this case).
I appreciate your educating me - I’m really looking forward to doing this yummy research!
That reminds me of a delicious Persian restaurant that I used to go to with my family - in Long Island, NY. The kebab dishes looked exactly like in the photos - I can taste it now
Maghreb (or Maghrib) is comprised of three countries — Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Although each one has its own culture and destiny, they do share common points and a common history to some extent, the French colonial influence being an important factor. It is known as “the West” as opposed to Machriq, “the East”, which is the Eastern part of the Arab world and starts at Libya.
Foodwise they have different traditions with quite a few common points, most of all couscous. Morocco has more sweet-and-savory harmonies and plenty of Berber influence. In Morocco, a tagine (or tajine) is a dish cooked in a conical earthenware vessel, while in Tunisia it is a thick baked savory flan, a bit like frittata ; Algeria has strong but subtle flavors with less of a tendency to mix sweet and savory into a single dish, it has more of a “pure” and stripped-out feeling somehow, owing to the Kabylian food culture; and is very underrated as a rule, but there is also some Spanish influence in the food due to the Sephardi presence in the coastal cities; Tunisia is a fascinating blend of local, Ottoman and Italian influences and is probably my favorite among the three. The three of them have very rich Jewish food cultures (both Sephardic, i.e. originally from Spain, and local i.e. Jewish Berber).
Maghrebi restaurants you will find in Paris may serve food from any of these three countries, but sometimes (especially those in the ‘gentrified’ category) they mix them somehow. For instance Le Timgad was originally Algerian, but now it’s more about Moroccan food (perhaps because tourists seem to know only that one but also the Paris bourgeoisie probably prefers the more “aristocratic” aura of Moroccan courtly cooking). L’Atlas is definitely Moroccan, though they serve merguez with couscous, which is not typically Moroccan. Places like El-Benna, Chez Hamadi and a bunch of restaurants on boulevard de La Villette are definitely Tunisian, with more of a stress on seafood, tomatoes, chillies and fermented pickles; as for Algerian, it’s a bit hard to tell because few restaurants advertise themselves as Algerian, although there’s a lot of them in the suburbs. The topic is not a simple one. I would say that Chez Omar, the famous old couscous place on rue de Bretagne, mostly serves an Algerian version of couscous.
Couscous rouge is a Tunisian specialty. It is made with fine-grained couscous, and during the threefold steaming process the couscous grain is mixed with some of the broth (marqa) that is to be served with the couscous (it includes meat, vegetables and chickpeas generally). The fat on the surface of the broth is also mixed into the couscous. Because the most common Tunisian marqa includes plenty of tomato puree, it has a bright red color which gives the couscous grain a characteristic orange-reddish color.
The couscous served at Chez Hamadi is of the red type; it is one of the rare places in Paris that serve it as such (not sure about El-Benna, I have to check it out), and besides there’s a heavy secret on their recipe. No one has yet managed to find out exactly how they do it. The grain itself is directly imported from Tunisia, which is quite a significant feature considering that raw couscous grain is all over the place in France. The restaurant has been going on for decades.
For an extravagant version of Tunisian couscous, I do recommend À Mi-Chemin, between Montparnasse and Alésia. It is basically a French bistrot, run by Tunisian-born Nordine Labiadh (whose team recently took over Au Trou Gascon). Nordine adds some distinct Tunisian touches to his cooking (his eggs mayonnaise with grated poutargue are not to be missed), but his couscous is extraordinary. As you enter the restaurant, there’s a wall of couscous sacks in front of the counter, piled up like sandbags on a battlefield, and that says a lot.
Nordine’s couscous is very, very generous, rather heavy on the garnishing, and may be ordered fish-based or meat-based. Meat means one large roasted lamb shank per serving. As for fish, it’s huge chunks of roasted pollack — flaky, with a buttery texture, simply wonderful. Not exactly your typical couscous, it’s Nordine’s couscous, unique in Paris and really worth trying. A strong appetite is required.
The harissa is house made, and you may buy some of it in small jars.
It is easy to prepare, though. Time-consuming (the grain part) but easy
Basically you can serve couscous with any meat, fish or vegetable broth. Even pot-au-feu. Tunisia has reputedly 365 different couscous recipes. With broth, without broth, milk couscous, sweet couscous, wild lavender couscous, 7-veg couscous (the classic Algerian version), couscous with steamed whole lamb shoulder, slow-roasted lamb couscous, fish couscous, sardine couscous, octopus couscous, red couscous, Sicilian couscous, etc. I wrote a book about couscous and got the help of a Tunisian friend for some recipes but I was very far from scratching the surface, because there’s also Morocco, Algeria, Libya, the Saharan regions like Mauritania, the Subsaharan types of couscous, etc.
