+212 528 85 40 12hello@riadalersa.comDerb Al Ersa, near Place Assarag, Taroudant 83000, Morocco

Dining

Three tables, one garden to feed them.

Malika cooks what the Souss grows and what the souk sells that morning. Breakfast is included. Lunch and dinner are for guests and their friends, on request.

Orange juice, msemen and honey on a breakfast tray under the orange trees
Breakfast in the ersa

7:30 – 10:30

Breakfast in the ersa

Juice from our trees, msemen and baghrir off the griddle, amlou, honey, eggs with cumin, and Malika's bitter-orange marmalade.

Lunch by the pool

12:30 – 15:00

Lunch by the pool

Light plates: orange and olive salads, grilled fish from Agadir's port, bread from the communal oven down the lane.

Dinner on the roof

19:30 – 22:00

Dinner on the roof

A set menu of three courses as the Atlas turns pink. Tell us by noon, and about anything you don't eat.

Tonight on the roof

Choose one dish from each course. The menu follows the season and the market, so it changes a little every week.

€38 per guest, wine and juices extra

Reserve a table

01To begin

  • Zaalouk & taktoukaSmoked aubergine, peppers and tomato, warm bread
  • HariraLentil and chickpea soup, dates on the side
  • Orange, olive & onion saladFrom the garden, with cumin and argan oil

02The tagine

  • Lamb with prunes & almondsSlow-cooked four hours, toasted sesame
  • Chicken with preserved lemonGreen olives, saffron from Taliouine
  • Seven-vegetable couscousFriday only, as tradition asks

03To finish

  • Sliced orangesCinnamon and orange-blossom water
  • Pastilla au laitCrisp warqa, almond cream
  • Mint tea & cornes de gazellePoured high, on the roof

The kitchen

Fish comes up from Agadir's port at dawn. Saffron comes down from Taliouine. The oranges come from twelve steps away. Malika's only rule is that nothing waits.

Pastilla dusted with cinnamon
Sliced oranges with cinnamon and orange-blossom water

From the Souss

The valley fills the pantry.

Argan from the Agadir road, saffron from Taliouine, honey from the thyme hills. Almost nothing on the table travels further than the Atlas.

  • ArganArgan
  • SaffronSaffron
  • OrangesOranges
  • Thyme honeyThyme honey
  • AlmondsAlmonds
The carved cedar door of the riad, one leaf open onto the garden