Morocco’s Cafe Clock: Vegetarian and Vegan Moroccan Food

Nov 23

Written By Louise

Some Moroccan dishes are difficult to find vegetarian. For example: harira, a common soup, seems vegetarian friendly since it’s made with chickpeas and pasta, but in fact it usually contains pureed meat in the stock.

Enter Cafe Clock. Originally established in Fes, it has now expanded to two additional locations in Marrakech and Chefchaouen. Each restaurant is located in a multi-story historic building with a rooftop terrace. While it is not a vegetarian restaurant, it does have quite a few great vegetarian and vegan options.

One is the aforementioned harira, but made vegan. It’s served with bread, dates, and Moroccan sweets, so it’s really enough of a meal on its own. Another option is the vegetable pastilla. Pastilla is a classic Moroccan pastry dish that is usually filled with chicken or pigeon, so it’s nice to be able to try a vegetarian version.

Finally, there’s my favorite: the appetizer platter. I love appetizers in general (who doesn’t?) and the platter is all vegetarian. It comes with zaalouk (an eggplant and tomato dip) with garlic toasts (vegan), crispy cauliflower “wings”, goat cheese-stuffed briouats (like Moroccan samosas), assorted olives, and a little beetroot salad.

Harira, left. Vegetable Pastilla, right.

Cafe Clock also hosts cultural events and classes, like live music, art, and calligraphy. They even have cooking classes with vegetarian and vegan options.

All in all, it was great to visit a restaurant with some different vegetarian options from the usual. Visitors to Morocco are bound to be in at least one of the three cities with a Cafe Clock location, so if you’re vegetarian or vegan, check it out!

I am not affiliated with Cafe Clock; I just like talking about food I like.