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.
Signature11 Moroccan salads, Pigeon pastilla, Lamb tagine couscous
Book1 week ahead
TipClosed 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.
SignatureMoroccan tasting menu, Pigeon pastilla, Couscous royal
Book1 week ahead
TipClosed 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.
OrderThe slow-cooked lamb tagine with caramelised quince, served with khobz bread.
TipOrder tagines a la carte rather than the set menu; the kitchen's strength is single-dish patience, not coursing.
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