Pastilla is the phyllo-pastry pie of pigeon or chicken, scrambled eggs and toasted almonds, dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar; the sweet-savoury Moroccan showpiece.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Pastilla (also bastilla, b'stilla) descended from the Andalusian Moorish tradition. Historians trace recipes resembling modern pastilla to 13th-century Andalusi cookbooks; the dish travelled to Morocco with Sephardic Jews and Muslim exiles after the 1492 Spanish Reconquista. Fes claims the authentic pigeon original; modern versions in Marrakech typically use chicken, with seafood pastilla a 20th-century coastal variant.
Common allergens: Gluten, Nuts, Egg
Tip from the editors. Warqa is the canonical pastry but filo is the workable substitute. Brush butter generously; under-buttered phyllo cracks during the fold.
Le Tobsil in Marrakech's R'mila medina runs the canonical Moroccan tasting: 11 to 13 salads, pigeon pastilla, lamb tagine, in a candle-lit Gnaoua-music riad.
Signature: 11 Moroccan salads, Pigeon pastilla, Lamb tagine couscous
Tip: Closed Tuesdays. Set menu only; live Gnaoua music. Pace yourself, the salads alone are dinner.
Dar Yacout at Bab Doukkala plates a fixed Moroccan tasting in a palace riad of Marrakech's medina; the late King Hassan II kept it as a favourite.
Signature: Moroccan tasting menu, Pigeon pastilla, Couscous royal
Tip: Closed Mondays. The terrace with Koutoubia view is the upgrade; live Arabo-Andalusian and Gnaoua music.
Run entirely by women since 1987, Al Fassia in Marrakech's Gueliz cooks the refined Fassi (Fez) repertoire under chef Saida Chab, daily lunch and dinner.
Signature: Lamb tagine with quince, Pigeon pastilla, Couscous Fassi
Order: The slow-cooked lamb tagine with caramelised quince, served with khobz bread.
Tip: Order tagines a la carte rather than the set menu; the kitchen's strength is single-dish patience, not coursing.
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