Restaurant Dar Baraka — Restaurant in Meknes

My partner and I arrived at Restaurant Baraka around 6.30pm. It was well signposted on the main route, at the place shown on Google Maps. We were quickly made very welcome by our host Nourddine, who later told us that he and his familiy started running the restaurant about a year ago in the central area of their riad as a way of supplementing his income from making cedar furniture, Much of the seating in the homely restaurant space was apparently made by him.

Nourddine knows a little English, but my partner's ability to converse in French meant our encounter with him could go further than the bare necessities of ordering a meal.

We both chose a starter made of aubergines and tomatoes. While this was being prepared we enjoyed the fresh bread and generous bowl of olives. It wasn't long before the starter arrived, warm and served in small tagines by one of the sons. It was truly delicious, reminding us how tasty aubergine can be when expertly prepared.

For the main course we had chosen vegetables with couscous. There was more than enough to satisfy our appetites, and once again the food was very good.

To round off, Nourddine brought a pot of tea and three glasses, then sat and chatted amiably with us. Including the bottle of sparkling water the bill only came to 200 dirhams (cash, naturally).

We wholeheartedly recommend Restaurant Baraka as an excellent place to eat in the medina in Meknes, and...

The food here is really good! Lovingly home made by the owners' wife. Great seasoning on both tajines' we had and a special mention to the salads which were absolutely delicious.

To rectify previous comments, the fact that the owners' wife is on her own making food in the kitchen is why people are sometimes turned away from the restaurant when it doesn't seem full.

We're in Africa here, not in Europe. Please stop expecting food to come out straight away or kitchen capacity to be huge. Tajine's take time to cook and given that the owners' wife is on her own preparing the food, with a presumably limited number of stoves, the restaurant cannot serve too many people at the same time or wait times for food would be too long. The owner has nothing against you if you are turned away. In response to some of the previous reviews - please get a grip or just travel in your home country.

On that note - make sure to get here early! We arrived just before 7 pm, the first people started getting turned away...

The owner of the restaurant, while speaking no English (only French and Arabic), went out of his way to welcome us and assure that we could find meat-free options in his restaurant. We ordered the combination of three tagine dishes (a green bean and garlic dish, an smoked eggplant/aubergine dish and a brown lentil dish), together with a mixed vegetable tagine - all of which came piping hot, wonderfully spiced and gluten-free. The harira soup (not GF) was also delicious, and the price-tag at the end of the meal was very reasonable. We went to two veggie-friendly restuarants in Meknes, and this certainly won our vote for most original and greatest variety for plant-based eating, and we'd highly recommend it. Beautiful restuarant interior too - and be prepared to knock loudly on the door when you arrive and then patiently wait to be let in. It really feels like going to someone's home - and the cooking just reinforces the idea that home-cooked it the...