A taste of Marakkech...

      “There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”
                   ― George Bernard Shaw

Being a self-confessed foodie...No,correction.. Being a self-confessed glutton,i eat out almost 4 days in a week..and its either Indian or Chinese or American or Italian. And inadvertently, i always ended up ordering food i had tried previously so I got really bored of having the same kinda food every week. So, last weekend, it was nearing dinner time & i was getting restless, not liking the idea of having one of those cuisines again. As luck would have it, i remembered hearing about a restaurant offering African cuisine that had recently opened up in New Delhi. Having no clue about the details, i turned to GOOGLE for help and voila,i found it in one minute flat.(brag much?) 

This little gem of a restaurant(as we found out later) happened to be named ZERZURA, which if legends are to be believed, was a mystical white city,an oasis,in the middle of the Sahara.

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well"

                                                                    ― Virginia Woolf 

 Exploring Zerzura:

As we entered this dimly lit restaurant, it actually felt like an oasis, cocooning me from the hustle and bustle of that usually comes with living in a big city.There were seating options both indoors and outdoors- i,being in love with the earth(a Taurean trait),chose to sit outdoors. The layout was formal, with private enclosures made for larger groups. 

The Private enclosure

The private enclosures are made "private" by pulling on a string curtain made of little hoops of metal as you can see in the picture. Every time, someone went in or out, it made a pleasant tinkling sound,which added to the atmosphere. Each enclosure was lit by its own moroccan lantern in colored cut glass..and the waiter serving us promptly lit a candle for us to read the menu better.

The entire time,i was supposed to decide on the food(considering that i was starving), i was busy ooh-ing and aah-ing over the lanterns. Though i couldn't take a decent shot of the lantern, i thought i'll find it online and share it with you guys anyways.. so here goes :)

Image Courtesy-tumblr

 

A Gastronomic Delight:

Honestly speaking, i did not have much of an idea about African cuisine and i knew i did not want to have the other cuisines on offer-Lebanese and Mediterranean. So after going through the menu countless number of times, i ended up ordering one of the mains for my starters..and Boy,was i glad!!!

The dish i ordered for my starter was wood-fired jumbo prawns marinated with garlic and pepper. The grilled jumbo prawns were served with a zesty lemon butter and feta sauce and came accompanied with a whole lot of grilled vegetables..Check out the picture below. Just looking at the picture makes my salivary glands go into overdrive :)

The mouth watering grilled Jumbo Prawns

  

The only problem i had with this dish was that i found the portion to small.. i just didn't want this to end. Fueled by the success of the first order, i ordered the trademark chelo kebab (the ACTUAL Starter). This was a char grilled mince lamb kebab marinated in sumac and saffron & served with a creamy black pepper dip. We were given freshly made,air soft pita breads to go along with the kebabs. Another HIT..we were on a roll!!

Feeling sufficiently satiated after the kebabs, we finally moved on to main course. Not having too much appetite left, we ordered one dish to share- the Main- Cous Cous with Lamb cutlet, Harissa and Fennel Tagine. We had no idea what a harissa or a tagine was but the name sounded exotic enough for us to want to dig into. Well, what can i say? i have a thing for the exotic!

Image Courtesy- www.timescity.com

I'm embarrassed to state that i was so excited to taste this amazing looking dish that i failed to click a picture of it before attacking it like a kid in a candy store. I found this picture online to make it up for the loss though.

The texture of the cous cous, the tender lamb, the flavorful gravy and..my favorite, the grilled vegetables all complemented each other beautifully to make this a perfect dish.

Having finished this in record time, we were totally full..but one look at the dessert menu and i knew that i just couldn't leave without trying their Dessert Sampler. 

So we ordered the Zerzura Dessert Sampler and was pleasantly surprised to find each and every item on that tray,an innovation and a treat for the tastebuds. From all that i can remember, there was a baklava, a classic chocolate cream pie, a date and fig gratin and one scoop of rosemary ice cream (Yes,you read that right...ROSEMARY ICE-CREAM).

The perfect ending to a perfect dinner, this place was love at first sight for me!

Ambience- 4/5

Food- 4.5/5

Value for money- 5/5

Service- 4/5

P.S- The music being played in the Restaurant was Loud and funky Gnaoua music, sung in catchy and bluesy tunes, with handmade instruments such as castanets, ribabs (three-stringed banjos) and a number of deffs (handheld drums) in crescendo, that had me  totally entranced.(And as u must have guessed, i got this bit of info from my trusted friend- wikipedia)

Would love to hear your inputs on my blog.Drop in your comments below.

 

Till next time,

XOXO