A RYAD in Bruges

Writing about Morocco made me miss our travels. And the food.
After a long weekend inside we decided to walk around the corner to the local (and only) organic Moroccan restaurant in Bruges, Ryad.

The reviews I read the first time we came were mixed.  Half loved it, half hated it.  

The most consistent review was that the food took forever.  And it does. So be prepared. 

Our anniversary dinner was a lovely 3 hour long affair, majority of that time spent waiting for our food.

This time around we made 6:30 reservation and huzzie saw they had shisha on the website and figured we would sit and do that to keep us busy before the food arrived. We learned once we sat down, that smoking hookah is only available after 10:30pm when food is no longer being served- no smoking inside otherwise. Ahh makes sense.

They have a very lax attitude toward time it's true.  Not only in the time it takes to get your food. Arriving at 6:30, there were a few couples and the waiter outside, apparently locked out. As in, the restaurant was still not opened.

We walked around a little and about 15 minutes later they opened. On a different night, starved and cranky, this 'ish would not fly. But tonight it wasn't too big of a deal and after 2 days inside, a little brisk (aka freezing) air was good. 

From the outside it looks like a restaurant you would see in NY or LA. Aside from the building that houses the restaurant, it has shed any traces of Bruges architecture.

Once you step inside, and part the heavy Berber curtains, you are transported somewhere else entirely. Morocco to be exact. From the ceiling to the floor they have made it as authentic as you can get without being there; ornate lanterns, a palm tree, the sculpted archway as you head upstairs.
  It's vibey, sexy and there are candles on every table.  No detail is overlooked in creating this complete experience. The bathrooms included.

I was trying to be slick with my photo taking.

We were seated in the back near the gas fire, which was nice. We pretend we're eating at one of the riads in Marrakech , and ignore the modern jacket closet to my left that from time to time will shake me out of this fake-cation.

We started with Mint Tea. It was different from what we had every day on our trip,  but nice and had a hint of orange flower essence. The presentation was lovely and authentic. ( Not that I am an expert on all things Moroccan by any means, I'm just saying.)

The last dinner we had in Marrakech we both ordered tagine. Mine veggie, his chicken with pickled lemon. Mine was good, his was GREAT. I had total food envy and had been craving it ever since.
                                 So...
I ordered a Chicken Tagine with lemon and potatoes.
And my better half got the chicken couscous w/ vegetables.
The food did take a whiiiiile.

Chicken Tagine

When it finally arrived, we were staaarved.
Both our dishes were really similar in taste and arrived much "soupier" than I would have liked.
Don't get me wrong. The chicken fell off the bone, was succulent, delicious and organic. Gorgeous.
 But I was slightly dissatisfied, having that particular taste I was craving so much go un-sated.            (yes i make up words.)
On the bright side, what an excellent excuse for dessert!
We ordered 1001 nuits and a plate of their daily pastries. (In my savage attempt to quiet this craving I hoovered dessert before I could take a picture- sorry)
Ok, 1001 Nuits was off the chain delicious. It was a combinations of dates, apples, flaky, buttery phyllo dough, pistachios, pomegranate seeds- I think I spotted passion fruit seeds too- and a light drizzle of their homemade orange sauce.
The plate of pastries were a home run too. There were 3 fat finger shaped Moroccan( baklava -like) Briouats (the thing separating them from being baklava is the subtle hint of orange blossom essence and in this case a some coconut inside) and in the middle sat four mysterious, to me,  pink powder covered cubes called Lokum or Turkish Delight.
Mouth still negotiating this gummy treat, my huz announces, "Oh yea. Your going to love this. It tastes like sugary soap"
And love it I did!  It was a delightfully aromatic, rose flavored, powdered sugar covered gummy treat. A little soapy. But goooood.
I had to ask the waiter twice what they were called and only hearing the Turkish Delight part, I came home and feverishly googled it to get the name.

a picture of Lokum, or Turkish Delight pilfered off the Interweb.

The evening was lovely and the service very attentive, even if the food took a little while to come out. At least they are consistent.
 I highly, highly recommend spending an evening here for dinner, because despite my specific tagine craving not being met, you won't be disappointed. Unless you're really hungry and cranky, then you might.
 But if you know it takes some time, you can enjoy some of the specially selected organic wines from across Europe and Morocco. Or sip on mint tea and experience for a few hours, a taste of Morocco in Bruges.

Ryad- 32 Hoogstraat 8000 Bruges
tel: 32 50 331355
open 7 days a week ( but double check, ya never know here)
http://www.ryad.be/

Things I Love: Morocco

There are a million treasures to choose from throughout your travels in Morocco. Most of ours came from the souk in Marrakech. You can really get addicted to the bargaining process and it's hard to stop. Most nights, when it was time to go I'd be like "Just one more stall. That's all i need."
 I'm reminded daily of our travels when I see or smell some of these treasures!

                         Pretty rose smelling potpourri from our favorite stall in the spice souk.

 Incredible, Incredible smelling Moroccan Mint tea soap. I finally unwrapped this baby after a month of hoarding it. It's what inspired this post. It smells exactly like sugar sweet Moroccan mint tea that would make your hands sticky to wash with but doesn't. It's so good you want to eat it. I'm not kidding. Where was this when I was a foul mouthed teen??

                                             Leopard print Babouches. Come on! I had to!!!!!

                                         Also available in every color and size you can think of.

This pretty handmade saddle bag was an end of the night impulse buy, but I'm so glad I did.
 The only draw back is, it's a little smelly. Much like many and most of the handmade leather products there. I want to think over time and use the smell will fade? You can visit the tanneries, we didn't, but it's suggested you bring a scarf to cover your nose and, I'll add, a tub of Vicks Vapo Rub. I heard the mint leaves they give you to dangle under your nose just don't do the trick.

Refreshing smelling rose water. This was purchased in Tangier a few hours before our flight back to Brussels. My last Moroccan fix!

A trip to Morocco is not complete without a Hammam treatment. We made sure we came home with the black soap made from the kernel of the olive nut used to soften skin and prepare it for it's heavy sloughing!  We'd need a sauna and steam room to really do it right, so if you see 2 weirdos covered in black soap at the spa... it's not us.

Ahh. The infamous Argan oil. Currently making the rounds as the newest beauty and health cure all oil. I haven't used enough to look 20 again but I do hope for improvements in the future! It's easy to find argan oil all over the souks and everywhere else in Morocco, but as I've mentioned in the Essaouira post, we stopped at a Women's Cooperative, Beladi,  just before we entered the seaside town to purchase our "pure" oils.


AND OF COURSE! Our two prized rugs that have made cameos in the above photos.
Artisanat de Sud- 35 souk de Tapis #109-111

All Items available at the Marrakech souk at Djemaa El Fna -
Argan Oil and mint soap from Beladi Women's Argan Oil Cooperative is located on the main road headed for Essaouira.

Christmas in Essaouira

We decided to take a day trip to the lovely seaside town, Essaouira on Christmas day.
I'd been really obsessing about getting "pure" Argan oil to bring back and read Essaouria was the place. My husband, focusing on the history side of things, wanted to see the place that Jimi Hendricks supposedly wrote  "Castles in the Sand. (Turns out he didn't write it there, only visited afterward, but oh well!)
The lovely employ-ess at Riad Kaiss booked a driver for us the night before, and at 9 the next mornig we were on our way.  The trip was about 3- 4 hours from Marrakech by car. That was a surprise to us given the long day we had hoped to spend by the sea.
For whatever reason, I took "driver' to mean that he would be getting us there and back and we were pretty much on our own in the way of exploring. Not so. Our driver was a part of a tour company so instead of getting us point to point we were part of an itinerary not our own. Grrrrr. I try not to do guided tours or overtly touristy things when I travel so this really bummed me out.
 I noticed about 3 hours in that maybe he had a plan beyond just getting us there, when I inquired about stopping at one of the first shoddy looking Argan Co-op's along the way and was told, "There is a good one ahead. I take you to." My suspicion was solidified when we arrived at a women's Argan cooperative called Beladi.  Not that it wasn't a great experience but this place compared to the others was very clearly geared toward tourists.
When you first walk in, they have a room you are first instructed to see, activities narrated by a Moroccan woman, modernly dressed. There are 6 to 8 women seated on the floor engaged in various stages of argan oil making. She walks us quickly through each process as though reading from a card.
First the nut is cracked and husked. - the nut goes to the next woman for another cracking and the husks get used for fire.
Second the nut is ground to an almond paste in a stone grinder/mortar type thing and you can see the oil running off into another stone pan.
After that, the paste leftover from the first round of grinding gets squeezed again under a stone to extract every last drop of oil. The gummy looking nut paste leftover is fed to the animals.  Nothing goes to waste in this process.
The last step is the oil itself  used for cooking and eating. I guess the step after that would be the purfication process to make it into cosmetic grade, but that wasn't part of the tour.

I was lucky to find this image of Beladi from the website  edenallure.com because didn't take any pictures there.

We are then guided into a room filled with products, bottled and wrapped professionally. Quite a step from the rudimentary process in the other room. I don't know what I was expecting but I wanted it to be in the Moroccan version of old jam jars with a ribbon or something really homemade with no traces of factory life. But I digress. The oils are beautiful and they let us taste their honey, argan oil for cooking and Amlou- an almond butter made from argan, almonds and local honey-YUM!

I load up a basket to the brim, the prices not cheap and in Euros, so I know now this place is totally geared for the tourists but the quality is still better than the Argan in the souks. Fortunately or unfortunately, depends which one of us you ask, their credit card machine was down so I had to seriously edit my basket. Wah.

We get back in the car and drive the last 20-40? minutes into Essaouira. First stop food. We skipped breakfast thinking it'd be a much shorter ride. Now hip to the fact we are on a tour I ask if the restaurant is very touristy and he says, "No no, it's very authentic." We pull up to Cafe Fantasia a place on the beach with a great view of the water.

Gaining my excitement again, we head toward the back deck and are greeted by a SEA of sun burnt white faces mowing down on their food. Indoors, a group of Moroccan tour guides are sitting and eating what I believe is a free lunch in turn for business. Which is great for them, but I'm fuming. And hungry and cranky. It's Christmas and I'm trying not to be unpleasant.  Yea, I am a tourist too, but I'm not sun burnt and I just want a low profile experience. Maybe I am that ahole tourist that believes they blend. Either way we were there for lunch and had a great sunny table and a view of the sea. We  had gotten this idea in our heads that we would get sardines stuffed with garlic, coriander and other spices at the fish stalls, like it had said in some tour book we saw in the hotel. Seeing french fries was not part o the plan, and was a bit of a let down. We wanted spice! We wanted flava!

Meow.
The food's not great or good, but it gets us back to feeling normal again. We feed the pregnant cat leftover calamari (without the breading)while we wait for the check. 

Good news is, we are on our own for 2 whole hours to explore the medina.

It's much different from Marrakech and you get the feeling right away that it's a pretty solid hippie, surfer spot. It puts us in a good mood to walk around and for sure it feels really 60's 70's.
In some of the shops the treasures are dusty or worn from years in the sun, but that adds to the charm and the feeling of the place. We wander aimless to pass the hours. From the streets to an old fortress we enjoy every minute and agree to come back again, without a guide, and for more than half a day

                      

Portuguese Fort

With the sun getting lower in the sky we knew it was time to head back to meet our guide.
We were hungry and still hadn't made it to the recommended seaside fish stalls.
They were still open when we got there, and we decided on the Sardines as our fish of choice. This was the first place we got a little bit of shade for being tourists unwilling to spend massive amounts of "euro" on fish. It was minor compared to what we would experience later in Fes and Tangier, people demanding things in your currency and then being not so nice about it when you don't comply.  
We asked for a 2 sardines each and most places scoffed at us. Finally with the help of our guide, we found a place that would serve us what we wanted.
A "few" sardines.

Having a pretty solid fear of getting a fish bone stuck in my throat ( and having had a dream about it the night before)  I think I adapted well to the pinch, pull, pick method I was taught to eat these babies.  Once assured, multiple times, that I would not eat a bone, I really enjoyed the experience. They were very tasty. Especially with the red onion, lemon and tomato.
We got back in the car with our fishy hands and headed to one last obligatory tour stop.
La Rochelle de Thuya is a local workshop where they make hand carved boxes, lamps, tables, soccer balls etc from the Thuya wood. You see these kinds of boxes/items all over the souks, and I was told that Essaouira is where the handicraft came from.  Having no intention of buying anything,  our extra bag already full or rugs and treasure,  we looked around and admired some of the beautiful work done by these artisans. They even showed us the process of how they do their inlaying using the different parts of the tree to create different wood patterns. Bark, vs root etc. Very nice.

A view from the upstairs window at La Rochelle De Thuya 

After that, we were on our way back to the hotel.  Sigh.
All in all, being on a tour wasn't so miserable as it was just difficult not to have the autonomy we are used to while exploring new places.
I wouldn't have wanted to do that long drive on our own, driving is straight CRAZY in Morocco, but it's a very small town so a guide isn't needed to get around or see the sights. There's plenty of Argan from co-ops being sold right in the medina, but seeing it first hand was very cool. I will give him that. :)

                                                                  Views from the car.

The skies are always filled with story book puffy clouds.

Housing developments being built.

Marrakech-Trains, Planes and Hotel rooms

Getting there :

We booked tickets through Ryan air. A very cheap, no frills airline that gets you to point to point across Europe.  I would report on the service and efficiency on the airline except we went to the wrong airport with the minimum 45 minutes to spare before boarding- only to realize the the airport we were supposed  to be at, was an hour away. I won't say who was in charge of the "getting us there" part of the trip. Ahem.

Faced with the possibility of losing 3 days of our trip, or encounter the delays the rest of Europe and east coast were experiencing from the snow, we bit the bullet and bought tickets at the travel agency in the airport. We were on our way to Marrakech by way of Casablanca that same day.

Royal Air Maroc is not exactly an "efficient" or organized airline by any means. We observed it first while waiting in line so long we nearly missed our flight because everyone in front of us had at least 80 bags each and were traveling in large groups of 20. And I'm sweating over whether or our 2 bags exceed 15 kg.

The second time was while waiting in Casablanca for over 2 hours watching sheer pandemonium break out over canceled and delayed flights and the methods they were using to remedy the situation. We were almost positive that once again, we were not going to make it to Marrakech. At the very last second, which was 45 minutes after our plane was set to take off,  we were "granted" tickets - that we already had mind you- to board the flight. To be honest I couldn't recount the event, it was truly more complicated than it needed to be, but there were 10 airline people doing something that would ordinarily take 2. Moral of this story- Have lots and lots and lots of patience when traveling to Morocco. That sort of thing was a reoccurring theme.

We arrived at our riad, Dar les Cigognes by 3am. Our room was Sahara themed, and could have been circus themed for all we cared.  We were exhausted, happy to finally arrive and fell right  to sleep.

In the morning we got to see more of the Riad we sleepily arrived in late the night before. A Riad is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with a garden or courtyard, and in many cases they are converted into a hotel. It was beautiful and had a lovely fountain in the middle of the courtyard.

 The sun shining was the best treat of all, but I was anxious to get out and see the infamous souk; that enormous maze of covered markets and home to all kinds of Moroccan Treasures.

It should be said that leading up to our trip I became a little obsessed with what I had been reading about getting sick. From what people I spoke to said,  as well as what I read in books, it was unavoidable.

Dreading this, and public bathrooms I was determined not to let this happen. 

Our first morning, starving but worried about what this silent offender would be, I ordered whatever had honey in, on or with it. In this case it was a basket of breads. Perfect. 

Breakfast on the lovely rooftop at Dar les Cigognes.

I had learned previously that when in a new place, if you have allergies, you should eat the local honey and that would help your body adjust. I had no idea if this would apply to our intestinal tract but hoped it would.  Later, it was confirmed by a friend via email. So, I can say, "for us" the honey trick worked! We did not, at any point, experience travelers belly. Despite the many times I caught myself mid-brush cursing for using the tap water.  So my first travel tip is 

" Eat the honey, Honey!"

Dar Les Cigognes was a peaceful lovely riad with a nice staff and the rooms were comfortable and cozy.

The way we travel, we usually book the first few nights in a place and then decide where else we'd like to go once we get the lay of the land. ( I was secretly hoping the rooms at La Mamounia, "the" hotel in Marrakech  would suddenly drop in price so we could stay there! But alas, it was high season) 

This hotel booking method of ours was slightly difficult in Morocco because of the lack of WiFi in many of these Riads. Luckily on our second night at Dar Les, we found out about their sister Riad and booked a few nights there to change it up. 

Riad Kaiss was GORGEOUS. WE walked in to absolute jaw dropping tiling and beauty. Birds were chirping away in the tress within the courtyard, the staff was even friendlier and the rooms, the rooms were divine.

We were able to choose our room, which was hard because they were so nice. 

 Anyone who has seen my online albums knows that I LOVE hotels and taking pictures of them, from the ceiling to the bathroom. So bear with me.

Looking out of our doorway.
 

A view into our bathroom. LOL told you I like pics!

Changing hotels was a great move. We were even closer to the souk and got to see a different side of town. (Not that it's all that far from where we were before, but from here, there was a street that lead you right into the souk without having to walk through traffic or crowds!)
The Dar Les Cigognes and Riad Kaiss offer cooking courses, hammam, spa treatments and book day trips for you if you ask. It's a full service hotel in every way. My one complaint, if there has to be one is the WiFi. I don't even want to have a complaint but... Riad Kaiss had Wifi in the room/hotel 1 out of the 3 nights we were there. That was difficult since we still had Fes and Tangier to plan for and family to contact for the holidays. Other than that I give Kaiss a 10+++. It was that good.
I had hoped I would get a cooking class in, but decided I would do that in Fes, a decision I now regret since that didn't end up happening either.
They have a beautiful cookbook I looked at as a consolation to missing out on the classes called
"Tanjia Marrakchia  Culinary Adventures at Dar les Cigognes". It talks about the culture, history and your eating manners according to Allah and so many other wonderful things in addition to the recipes.

We decided to treat ourselves to a Christmas Eve hammam. Because water is and was scarce, there are public places out in town for men and woman to come, wash and socialize. It's a big cultural thing and all the guide books or Morocco blogs tell you its a MUST SEE. I am not one for public nudity ( I also wasn't clear on whether they were co ed or not- they're not) or socializing while washing so we opted for the private hammam treatment at the hotel.
First they have you shower and do a quick soapy wash inside the warm sauna room. Then you lay down, relax and let your pores open up for 15 to 20 minutes. Once you are steamed, you are slathered with black soap, top to bottom. Again you are instructed to lay down and let your skin soften while covered in black soap. It's all wonderful and peaceful and relaxing. Then comes the scrubbing.
Now, I had heard it was rough, but this was almost mind numbing pain at points. The sweet woman we had been doing botched charades with this whole time to order to communicate, was standing there with her head scarf, loose cotton pants rolled into high waters, a scrub mitt  now on her hand and was beginning to look like she really meant business. We start on the back, and I'm not kidding the skin is just coming off. In gobs. It's painful. There's no 2 ways about it. It's the price you pay for gorgeous skin. No needles, no lasers. Just a mitt. And after your skin goes kind of numb, it's relaxing too.
I rinsed, had an herbal mask applied and laid down again while my husband got the royal scrub down. I strained my ears to hear if he was making little yelps or sighs of pain but he did good. I closed my eyes.
We leave the hammam with our BABY soft skin that glows and in a daze, make our way back to the room. It's only 7 but we are wiped and feel like we had some kind of transcendental experience.

There is a beautiful 6 course Christmas Eve dinner with traditional music set to begin upstairs but we are so exhausted and decide to order food to the room instead. The menu was very heavy on the fois gras in almost every dish, it looked spectacularly delicious if you like fois gras but I'm just not a fois gras kind of girl. Either way, to walk further than the bathroom proved itself to be a chore. The coup de grâce came when we were delivered personal hot water bottles in pretty Moroccan cozies ( I mean, are you kidding? the Four Seasons doesn't even do that). There was no moving us.  We laid happily in bed listening to the live music upstairs and fell into a blissful hammam and food induced sleep.

Marrakech Christmas eve.

One big bright star on Christmas night.

Candlelit stairs leading to the Christmas dinner.

I also must mention that we woke up Christmas Morning to a giant stocking hung filled with oranges and candy outside our door. I'm telling you, Riad Kaiss is Heaven.

 We did a few non- souk related activities from here. Once to Essaouira, post coming soon, visited the Palais Badi,  Majorelle Garden and the YSL museum there.
Here are a few pictures of the Jardin Majorelle and Palais Badi, in that order.

The Yves Saint Laurent Memorial

The gardens were pretty and peaceful. But the absolute must see there is the YSL mini museum. 

Quick history of the gardens. Yves Saint Laurent and his partner bought the garden from Jacques Majorelle in 1980 in order to preserve and restore it. It had been designed by Majorelle and open to the public since 1947. There is also the Islamic Art Museum that I am kicking myself for missing. It's supposed to be really great. The YSL museum was amazing. When you first walk in, it's like a mirrored disco ball meets sparkly night sky. Dizzying and stunning. And the clothing. The clothing was. So. Beautiful. I literally got choked up seeing the work and some of the 60's and 70's pieces I adore.

No pictures allowed. Not even covert ones. 

Yves Saint's ashes were spread in the garden June 2008.

Palais Badi

Oh! seeing my boot reminds me. My sole was stepped on, torn into a flap. There are shoe makers outside of the souk that sit inside these small literal holes in the wall surrounded by shoes. I found a man near out hotel to fix my sole and it was the coolest process I had seen.  Fire,  thick glue from a tub on the floor. And cheap to boot. Ha. get it?Boot? 

I'm such a bad blogtress!  I have no idea what this place was about, except that it is very very old. I will have to wait until my history buff huz gets home so I can write a sentence or 2 about it.-

OK it was once known as the grandest palace in the whole muslim world but it may have been doomed from the beginning. Supposedly when it was first commissioned, several centuries ago, an onlooker said "This will make a great ruin one day" and that is exactly what it is now. - Mr. Huz Pickle

LASTLY: TRAINS

I had a very hard time leaving Marrakech and was apprehensive about our travels and what lay ahead. 

On our last day, we arrived in a rush to the train station moments before the train was set to leave.

 ( are you seeing a trend here?)

There had been a mix up, the hotel keys were still in a pocket and one of us had to rush back to deliver it, subsequently missing the train. We caught the next one, 2 hours later but made one big mistake.  

Two actually. 

First, buy a first class seat. It's like $10 to $30 dollars more but it ensures you have a seat. 

Second, if you have to buy  a second class ticket, get on the train as soon as they allow. The trains fill up real quick and you will be left without a seat in no time. For a 8 hours journey like ours was to Fes, it's not fun.

A third tip, don't get off the train thinking your loved one is behind you because you're annoyed they bought the wrong ticket and now have no place to sit so standing by the bathroom is your only option. 

 I will tell you why from first hand experience. 

The train WILL start to move, without a hoot or a whistle and you will turn around to see your loved one is still on board.  Then, all you'll hear is a very loud, direct order like you've never known to "GET ON THE TRAIN!"And you will, panicked and scared out of your mind, grab a pull bar in ballet flats and your piece of luggage, and do just as you have been told. 

But it's no good, really.  So just stay put and enjoy the view from the bathroom.

The Sanssouci Collection
http://www.sanssoucicollection.com/

Dar Les Cigognes                                                    
108, rue de Berima
Marrakech (medina)
Morocco
Tel. +212 524 38 27 40
Email: info@lescigognes.com

Riad Kaiss

65 derb Jdid          
Riad Zitoun Kedim
Marrakech (Medina)
Morocco
Tel. +212 524 44 01 41
Email: info@riadkaiss.com

Jardin Majorelle
Rue Yves Saint Laurent
Ave. Yacoub El Mansour