Inside Morocco

Hi foodies,

Have you ever travelled to Morocco? I haven’t! But it is on my agenda to do in future. This fascinating country has some of the finest flavours to offer to the world. Tajines and mint tea, two of the most famous national dishes of Morocco has influenced many modern cuisine principles and definitely helped to put north African cuisine on the world dinning map. Where do we go for Moroccan cuisine in Adelaide? I recently discovered a hidden gem, Inside Morocco on Magill Road!

Inside Morocco has been in business for 18 years and is definitely one of the big player in Adelaide’s Mediterranean food scene. The shop is tucked away in the so relaxing suburb of Stepney and is a true Moroccan art gallery! The Moroccan decor and items really make diners feeling that they are in Morocco. While we were there, we cannot stop to count how many people has dropped in because of the beauty of the shopfront. I absolutely love the items!

Of these great arts, I especially liked the mirrors below. Once the little decorative door is opened, the glass reflection showed another world and extends a space dramatically – Aren’t they just fabulous!

The shop also had many casual traditional seating which diners can use while enjoying their food or catching up with friends during a coffee. To the very internal part of the venue, there are some beautiful red couches. What a home feeling indeed!

Back onto the food and its menu, Inside Morocco has an extensive menu including a number of their signature dishes. Each year, the venue also hosts a tapas night and diners can taste a variety of their signature dishes – I think it is worth to try!

What we had, however, was not anything on the menu! What?! Yes, we had their Experience Morocco Menu which was available for functions. The venue opens for breakfast and lunch from Tuesday to Sunday (8am-4pm Tues-Fri and 9am-6pm on weekends) and dinner (by appointment only) and hosts a lot of private group dinning or events each year. The Experience Morocco menu is available for dinner and the events. It costs $55 per person and the food is definitely worth the money. If you are looking for function places, this is the place to go!

Inside Morocco Dips Platter – Housemade Hommus and Pumpkin with Walnut dip, served w/ pita chips, celery, carrot & capsicum sticks

When I saw this dips platter, I know something yummy is coming! I am a big fan of dips. The Inside Morocco dips are house made and was blended to very fine texture with a balanced level of the nuttiness and mouthfeel. When dipping either of the vegetable sticks or the pita chips, they gave a fragrant natural creamy flavour on the palate while dispersing the freshness inside one’s mouth, leaving a long lasting flavour. The pita chips were so crispy that I was not able to stop eating!

Mint Tea – Our food experience at Inside Morocco was accompanied by the mint tea. Fresh mint was brewed into the tea and took away the oiliness while adding extra flavour to the dishes! Great job!

Tajines with Couscous, House Salad and Flat Bread – These are the main dishes we had. Very fantastic flavours! Below I have them broken into dishes and later, I will show you how I enjoyed the dishes as one dish 😀 – I like mixed match!

Lamb Tajine w/ Prunes and Roasted Almonds

This is a beautifully balanced dish. The chunky meat flavour and the roasted smokiness quite well. Diners can chose to add their own salt and pepper if they did not fell enough seasoning. The meat was quite tender with all those great aromatics into the mouth – It was such a treat!

Chicken Tajin w/ Preserved Lemon and Potatoes

I like the preserved lemon flavour in this dish! The chicken pieces were tender and moist and tasted with some curry elements. The acidity from the preserved lemon balanced the dish well. It is important that this dish used REAL potatoes! Comparing to my bad experience with another Moroccan restaurant several years ago using tomato sauce, this dish is high on my radar!

Below is my mix-mash of the mains. I used a bit of the couscous, salad, the two mains and once you mix them all, eat with the toasted flat bread and experience the crunchiness from the bread as well as the chunky meat! The salad contributed to the extra freshness and cleaned the palate quit well!!

You never know how much you can feed into one’s belly, especially it is a foodie x 2. 🙂 After the main, we were full and then dessert came! OMG – after the first bite, we cannot stop eating the dessert and finished the entire platter! They were soooooooooooooooooo good!

Experience Morocco Dessert Platter – Cheese cake, Banana Cake, Carrot and Rhubarb cake, all served with fresh cream

As I said, this dessert platter is really great! The cheese cake was a baked one and was one of the best ones I ever had. Combining with the fresh cream, the cakes were taken to the next level and I truly recommend anyone who visit venue to try these small goodies. Oh, don’t forget to pair with the mint tea – what a great combination!

Inside Morocco is a true jewel in the eastern suburb, a jewel has not been shining like today during the past 18 years. The venue uses local produce whenever possible and also use spices from ones directly imported from Morocco. The venue is great for a themed event or dinner so make sure you check them out!