La Sqala is near the old Medina and around the corner from Rick’s Cafe, the institution made famous by the movie Casablanca. We canceled our Rick’s dinner reservation for this more authentic one offering Moroccan cuisine in an outdoor Andalusian garden with live local music. We hoped to stop by after dinner for a drink, as most Moroccan restaurants do not offer alcohol.

We had new friends to dine with, whom we met at the pool atop the Mövenpick Hotel, a 5-star hotel in central Casablanca. The four of us shared everything. We started by grazing on two mezzes (90 dirhams or about $9 for each grouping) that came with their khobz, thick, flavorful bread. Some dishes included beets with cumin, quina with octopus, carrots, sardines with eggplant, lentils and marinated peppers.

We also tried their chicken (95 dirhams, about $9.50) and lamb brochettes (135 dirhams, about $13.50) served on the skewer, served with some cumin, salt and red pepper to season the meats. We all preferred the more moist chicken.

After dinner, we headed over to Rick’s Cafe and were met by rudeness. The arrogant bouncer wouldn’t ever let us peek inside. (He was the only rude person we met our entire time in the county.) Instead, we headed back to the Mövenpick Hotel rooftop for drinks around the pool after our taxi driver drove us by the lit-up Hassan II Mosque that had been closed that day in honor of the prophet Mohammad’s birthday.

I recommend La Sqala for an authentic meal and setting.

La Sqala
Boulevard des Almohades
Casablanca 20250
Morocco
+212 522 260 960
sqala.ma/