Morocco’s traditional haute cuisine dishes are excellent and good value for money. They are often exceedingly elaborate, based on a diet of meat and sweet pastries. Hotel restaurants usually serve French cuisine. Restaurants offer a good selection of food, including typical Moroccan dishes, French, Italian or Spanish meals. The three-course fixed menus are not expensive. Many of the souks have stalls selling kebabs (brochettes) often served with a spicy sauce. Most restaurants have waiter service. Bars can have either waiter or counter service. Laws on alcohol are fairly liberal (for non-Muslim visitors) and bars in most tourist areas stay open late. Wines, beers and spirits are widely available. Locally produced wines, beers and mineral waters are excellent and good value, but imported drinks tend to be expensive.
National specialities:
• Harira, a rich soup.
• Pastilla, a pigeon-meat pastry made from dozens of different layers of thick flaky dough.
• Couscous, a dish based on savoury semolina that can be combined with egg, chicken, lamb or vegetables.
• Tajine is a stew, often rich and fragrant, using marinated lamb or chicken.
• Hout is a fish version of the same stew.
• Djaja mahamara is chicken stuffed with almonds, semolina and raisins.
• Also popular are mchoui, pit-roasted mutton.
• Kab-el-ghzal, almond pastries.
National drinks:
• Mint tea made with green tea, fresh mint and sugar. It is very refreshing and its consumption is an integral part of Moroccan social courtesy.
• Coffee is made very strong, except at breakfast.
Tipping: Service charges are usually included in hotel bills; it is customary to tip hairdressers, cinema usherettes and waiters MAD1-2.

Morocco offers a variety of entertainment from casinos, bars, discos, restaurants and nightclubs, often with belly dancing. There are modern nightclubs in all the cities and resorts around the country. There are casinos in Marrakech, Mohammedia, Tangier and Agadir. Traditional Moroccan entertainment, such as folk dancing, can be seen in every town.

The co-operative shops of Moroccan craftspeople, coopartim, operate under state control selling local handicrafts at fixed prices and issue an authenticity receipt or a certificate of origin for customs when exporting. Souks are also worthwhile places to visit for local products. Special buys are leather, tanned and dyed in Fès; copperware; silver; silk or cotton garments; and wool rugs, carpets and blankets. Bargaining is essential, and good buys generally work out at around a third of the asking price. In the south, there are Berber carpet auctions, especially in Marrakech, Taroudannt and Tiznit. Visitors will need a guide to make the best of these occasions. Shopping hours: Mon-Thurs 0830-1200 and 1430-1830, and Fri 0830-1100 and 1500-1830; large stores are open Mon-Sat 0900-1300 and 1500-1900; souks (traditional markets) are open Mon-Sun 0830-1300 and 1430-1800.