l'Atelier - Moroccan Cooking Workshop in Essaouira

Okay experience but not five-star. The pastry class felt like more watching than doing ourselves. Teachers were not particularly enthusiastic and the class thus never got animated or really fun. We took another cooking class in Marrakech that truly was five-star, so my views have some basis for comparison (even within the scope of the same trip).

The instruction was very clear which to me as a non chef, was very important and I appreciated that. Miriam and her assistant were very patient, attentive and ensured our dish, when cooked on a slow hat for over 2 hours, was delicious!!! The time went so fast with preparation, cooking, scouring tje.market for spices and then finally eating!! A fabulous experience, thank you!!

Spent a very interesting few hours on this cookery course learning to make traditional Zaalouk (aubergine salad) and a seabream tagline. Followed by a trip to the spice market. I’m quite an experienced cook but learnt a thing or too, and it was really interesting to hear more about the cooking culture and ingredients. Meryam was great (she was translating but is obviously a cook herself) and so was our chef (sorry I can’t remember her name). I was also really struck by the attention to hygiene - everything spotlessly clean and we were encouraged to wash hands, clean chopping boards etc as we went along. The food tasted rally good although if there had been complaints we would only have had ourselves to blame! I think this is also good value for money - one of the things that struck me about Marocco is how expensive it is to eat out. With this you get lunch and lessons combined!