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Sacred heart of Morocco: putting Moulay Idriss on the tourist map
Once a no-go area, Morocco's holiest town is starting to woo tourists, with a friendly new guesthouse and branch of Fez's coolest restaurant.
Holy Moulay Idriss is built on two hills. Photograph: Mattes Ren/AFP
Well, there are places to stay now, and an intriguing new restaurant run by Mike Richardson, former maitre d' of the Wolseley and the Ivy who recently became the first foreigner to buy a property here. The red-headed pioneer moved to Fez, an hour east, five years ago to set up Café Clock (concept: crazy Moroccan souk meets Venice Beach-style cafe, with camel burgers) and now intends to do the same thing in Moulay Idriss.
"Foreigners are warmly welcomed now," he says, adding that Moulay Idriss's reputation as an unwelcoming place wasn't down to religious sensitivities alone.
"From what I can gather," he says, "the myths come about because the place is so special. The Moroccans wanted to keep it a secret."
Dar Akrab (Scorpion House) Photograph: Mike Lilley
His new restaurant, Dar Akrab (Scorpion House), is perched on one of two hills in this ancient town where Moulay Idriss el Akhbar, great-grandson of the prophet Muhammad and the man who brought Islam to Morocco 1,250 years ago, is buried. It has the exciting allure of a place not yet star-struck by the promises of tourism.
Tour buses from Fez used to come no nearer than Volubilis, an eerily abandoned Roman city 20 minutes' walk from the town. There is still no regular public transport; the cheapest way to get here is in a shared "grand" taxi from Fez or Meknes.
The climb to Dar Akrab is steep, but worth it for the incredible mountain views from the white minimalist terrace as you eat your scrambled eggs with desert truffles, or your Moroccan barbecue, the house speciality. In a Moroccan barbecue the meat, usually lamb, is cooked Mechouia-style – outdoors over hot coals and basted with a herby, spicy marinade made of cumin, paprika and coriander.
If you want more details, well, you can ask the other customers because, unlike at many of the fancy new places in Marrakech, at Dar Akrab you can meet young locals, men and women.
"The vibe is going to be dictated by the people of the town," says Mike, as we wave to a couple of women enjoying afternoon tea on a nearby terrace. He says he initially bought the place as a refuge from his life as a feted resident of Fez. Café Clock, in the middle of the souk, is so successful that every time he steps outside, he's grabbed by a stallholder selling pet chameleons or homemade rosewater who wants to pass the time of day.
A street in Moulay Idriss. Photograph: Tara Stevens
Even for the non-famous, Fez can feel claustrophobic after a couple of days, and the huge skies and dramatic views of Moulay Idriss are a tonic. Other attractions include ancient Roman hot springs, a 10-minute walk away in the peaceful hills, with two moderate-sized baths built into the foothills of Mount Zerhoune. You can swim here: the water smells of cumin and hot stone. (In the summer, Richardson says, it is "boy soup".) But even if you don't take a dip, it's worth the climb for the astonishing views. Looking down on the vast plains of Volubilis gives a real sense of being in Africa – as well as a flash of what Roman Africa might have felt like.
Thanks to Dar Akrab, Moulay Idriss is starting to wake up. Mike's local friend, Fayssal, runs a new five-room guesthouse, Dar Zerhoune. It's a modest wood-framed, tile-floored boutique hotel with classic keyhole-shaped doors, lots of romantic balconies and a rare baraka or carving to Muhammad in the central courtyard denoting that part of the house originally came from Mecca.
The conservatory-style dining room on the cushioned roof terrace has (again) incredible mountain views. Breakfasts come with local honey and couscous bread dipped in olive oil from a grove just down the road.
Food and friendliness are the biggest attractions of Dar Zerhoune. The only other real competitor is La Colombe Blanche (maisondhote-zerhoune.ma), opposite Moulay Idriss's tomb. It has eight bedrooms in classic mis-matched Moroccan style (inexplicably, most of the furniture is covered with doilies).
Fayssal's dad, Mustapha, is a great host, too. Once a week, he offers guests the option of his tangia, the Moroccan hotpot famously only cooked by men. It's a very male dish in that there's lots of meat and not much work. You take a big ceramic urn to the butcher, get him to fill it up with spiced meat and then you take it down to the hammam. You leave it in the hammam fire, go off and have a good steam, and when you're ready, you take it home and announce, "Hey honey, I made the dinner!"
The big show-off moment comes when Mustapha empties the urn in front of me. The richness of the sauce and the tenderness of the meat momentarily shock me to silence as the inscrutable Fayssal and his jovial dad smile down at me.
Food will be a big part of Mike's new venture. He already runs cooking workshops in Fez, and will be doing the same at Dar Akrab. His friend, cookery writer Tara Stevens, has just published Clock Book: Recipes from a Modern Moroccan Kitchen (33books, £15), inspired by Mike's menus. In Moulay Idriss, she will be manning the Moroccan barbecue and teaching guests how to make everything from duck in spiced pomegranate molasses to crystallised rose petals.
There seems to be a bit of an invasion of London maitre d's in these parts: Mike has just named his former Wolseley colleague Robert Johnstone (also a former maitre d' at the Ivy) as the manager of Dar Akrab. He's also putting Muslim-friendly cocktails on the menu: "Alcohol-free but full of bright colours and glitz. We're going to bring in a bit of glamour."
Sacred heart of Morocco: putting Moulay Idriss on the tourist map | Travel | The Guardian
@FARSOLDIER (especially) @Arabian Legend @JUBA @Hadbani @Yzd Khalifa @Altamimi @Full Moon @Abu Nasar @Multani @United @Zarvan @chauvunist @BATMAN @Talon etc.
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