Here is a review from DineOut from one of our happy customer (15th November 2012)

” Honestly, one of the best meals I’ve had in awhile! No. Joke. I am 92 years of age, me and my husband of 65 years went for a quiet night out. We were seated by the windows and was also asked by the waiter to if it was fine to change my chair, he brought us two very comfortable chairs, asked if he could take our coats. He also brought over the blackboard so I didn’t need to walk over to read the specials. The starter, main, and dessert were some of the best, words cannot truly describe what I had. Below are my pros and cons of what I thought. I hope you all enjoy the same experience as I did.” …

Read more here

A great review from a happy customer (25th June 2011) . Read the rest of the review at DineOut.co.nz

“… We went in a party of four. Seating was no problem. We started off with some Moroccan tea, poured extravagantly into the teacups. For our mains, we all chose to have tagines, two lamb, one chicken, and one fish. We had all agreed that it was an incredible meal and exceptional value for money. We definitely plan to return soon.”

Amanda Nicolle – Sunday Star Times (2009)

The Marrakech Café is …  a gem. I had heard a lot about the food and, with a penchant for anything Moroccan, it was a perfect choice for a grim Wellington day. The service was refreshing and quaint – not slick and polished like some city cousins but almost better for its honesty and authenticity. The young man was knowledgeable and efficient.

We chose a starter of hummus, which was modestly described as smooth chickpea dip with Moroccan spices and olive oil served with bread. What arrived was the most divinely balanced and deliciously smooth combination of textures and flavours, with a flat bread that was almost roti-like in appearance and was a perfect foil for the dips. I was in heaven.

And it got better. It was difficult to choose from this full and authentic menu featuring the traditional Moroccan genres of tagine, shasliks/kebabs, varieties of couscous and then others, including some unconventional options …

Our mains were faultless – the maftoul (beef mince hand-rolled Moroccan cigars in hot, crispy pastry, with raisins, rice and almonds) was absolutely divine. The blackboard special, the lahem bel barkouk …  was an impossibly moist and gelatinous slowly cooked lamb shank with prunes, almonds and sesame seeds served in a tagine with couscous. It was about as good as food on a plate can get. Marrakech Café is a find – a memorable eating experience and  well worth a visit.

 

December 18, 2008

It is sometimes surprising that a city the size of Wellington has the range of ethnic restaurants it does – Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Japanese, Thai, Nepalese, Mexican, Chilean, Lebanese, Italian, French, Greek, Moroccan and others.

Many have kept to their culinary customs, making their dishes fresh in the traditional way, Others have turned their backs on the old ways, having been seduced by the savings in money and effort that they feel can be made by using commercially prepared ingredients.

There are few Moroccan restaurants in the capital so, happily, none have resorted to bulk-buy tagine sauce, boil-in-a-bag couscous or the like, but instead rely on the expertise of their cooks to interpret their culinary classics.

I went for lunch last week to Marrakech, an oasis at Greta Point on the inland stretch of round-the-bays walk. We were given a menu which on one side offered the culinary delights of North Africa and on the other, the usual Wellington brunch dishes like mint tea or “Zagora Breakfast” with jam, butter, olive oil, olives and home made bread. I chose from the black board menu, hot crispy pastry rolls. D chose the lamb tagine.

The lamb was served in, though patently not cooked in, a traditional tagine. The base hot enough to keep the sauce bubbling while the top was cool enough to be lifted without a cloth. The succulent lamb shank was wonderful and tender, slow cooked in a delicious sauce with broad beans, peppers, olives and other vegetables served with saffron rice.

My pastry rolls were crisp and full of beautifully seasoned minced halal beef, rice and almonds, sweetened with raisins and spiced with cinnamon and with the fiery harissa. They were exceptional and were served on the simplest and most refreshing salad.

The restaurant was busy and I could understand why – Marrakech Café may not be licensed or make the list of best dressed restaurants, but it is right up there for good food andvalue, our meal costing a pleasing $33.80

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Moroccan food, the likes of which Wellington hasn’t seen before, excites David Burton.From having nowhere to go for Moroccan only three years ago, Wellingtonians now have the Casablanca or a foray around the bays to Marrakech.

Casablanca is the old Medina renamed, but Marrakech is new, having occupied the former Bay Leaf Café at Greta Point since December 6. Chef-patron Abdel (Abdelghani) Eldraoui is already known to the Wellington restaurant scene, having trained and worked here for 15 years, most notably at Le Metropolitian and the Duxton Hotel. There has also been a murkier history, in places I was less thrilled to hear about, such as swimming pool cafes and Tug Boat on the Bay (which, it must be emphasised, has recently changed ownership).

Marrakech is Abdel’s owner-chef venture, understandably modest, and with a firm, unromantic grip on what should sparse passing traffic in this not hugely auspicious location will buy; panini, filled rolls, coffee and biscuits.
But, really, you should forget the counter food and let Abdel cook you his beautiful native Moroccan kai, the like of which has never been seen in Wellington.
One of my best food moments occurred in Tangier, listening to the live music of a Moroccan orchestra, while breaking the crackly, wafer thin waraka pastry of the famous pigeon pie called b’stilla – or Bastilla, as it is spelt on the Marrakech menu.

Waraka is akin to filo, but a slightly coarser, peasanty, homemade version, a bit thicker with the ability to colour dark brown and go very crispy in a way that industrial/artisanal filo just won’t.
Certain other Wellington restaurateurs, who will not be named, have been known to pass off filo as waraka. But the moment I cracked through Abdel’s mahogany-coloured, multi layered waraka, dusted subtly with cinnamon and sugar, I knew I was being offered my treasured Moroccan memory. The crisp pastry contrasted with the rich, soft, lightly spiced chicken and scrambled egg filling. M’mmmm.

From my very first reading of the menu’s entrée selection, I was excited. There, under Mixed Dips, were three that Wellington has never seen before; bessara – an unctuous cumin and coriander-scented, lemony puree dried split green pes, laadissa – made from our equally common supermarket red lentil; and zaalouk – a magical spicy, oily tomato and eggplant relish, redolent of cumin, garlic, vinegar and fresh coriander.

Main courses offered the obligatory kebabs, couscous and tagines, all tasty and immaculately executed, while more waraka reappeared for dessert as the pastry for a Moroccan take on baklava, presented as tiny, fried and honeyed samosa shapes.

Technically, our service was patchy; they failed to notice that by drawing off a few glasses, I had run the water dispenser dry, and my guests order for “chicken couscous salad” was misheard as “chickpea couscous salad”, and the wrong dish was delivered. Then they cleared cutlery with the offending dish, and forgot to renew it. “Oh dear”, said Abdel’s charming wife, “we are giving you bad service”. But at least she cared, and that counts for heaps.

Abdel won’t exactly say what is in his dishes or how they are made, half jesting that every recipe come from his mother, a professional chef in Marrakech, who passed them on only on the condition that they not be divulged to anyone.

Like the food, the décor is folksy and cosy, rather than chic. But Abdel is pressing on with renovations that will see a new wall of glass facing the street and a boudoir extension at the back. Watch this space.