Best Dishes at Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha

This is the signature of Marrakech — lamb lowered into a wood-fired oven before dawn and roasted until the meat pulls away from the bone with barely a touch. The stall makes no attempt at presentation: it arrives on paper, seasoned with nothing but ground cumin and coarse salt, torn khobz bread on the side. Gordon Ramsay ate here when he visited Morocco. Order by weight — a half-kilo (100-150 MAD) feeds one person generously.

Tangia is Marrakech's answer to slow-cooking: beef packed into a tall clay jug with garlic, onions, preserved lemon, and spices, sealed shut, and buried in the hot ashes of the hammam's furnace overnight. The meat emerges so tender it barely needs a fork, and the broth that forms inside is deeply flavored without being heavy. This is the dish locals order, while tourists queue for mechoui.