30. December 2014: Restaurant Maison MK

If you do not have a guide, it might help to go and check where the Maison MK is during daylight as it is pretty secluded and you have to walk through narrow little streets to find it. Once you’ve done that, and you arrive you have to ring the bell so the door opens. And you are immediately welcomed into an oasis of peace, calmness, and niceness. But not only that, you are also welcomed with a little drink which seemed like “orange juice with chili” which was nicely refreshing.

If you arrive a bit early (before your reservation), it helps to select the table you want to have to dine at. Which in this particular case is worth coming early as the place is truly nice. However, your dinner starts on the terrace on the second floor where you have a great view over Marrakesh with a “selection of canapées” (spinach soup, fried potato with cheese, puff pastry with vegetables) which is simple but nice.

As a side-dish, you get “popcorn and olives” which seems to be the pre-dominant thing to serve to start off (the olives, not the popcorn).

You are guided downstairs again to take your table and start your dinner. The menu is set – the only thing you get to pick is the main course – everything else is given. The dinner started with a “parsnip soup flavoured with chocolate” which was interesting as the chocolate flavour is very decent. In the beginning though, before you stir the soup, the intensity is great especially as the chocolate slightly dominates the parsnip flavour. However, once you stir it, you can’t feel much of the chocolate anymore.

The next course was “quail – sautéed breast and confit thigh, vegetable pastilla, broad bean purree, and a mushroom sauce”. I liked the vegetable pastilla quite a lot. I had tried to get pastilla by this time already quite a few times and they were always sold out (which I consider weird enough). So, finally, it had worked and I must say it is great to try it. The quail on the other hand was a bit chewy which was a bit disappointing to me.

I chose the “pan fried filet of sea bass with 5 berries, mushroom and vegetable risotto, and celeriac purree”. Overall, a sound dish – what has to be outlined though is the vegetable risotto which was truly mouth-watering. What I somehow missed were the five berries – maybe they were in the sauce, but frankly speaking, they did not taste much like berries at all.

The last course was definitely something quite interesting – a “spicy cucumber sorbet, with a mango jus topped with mint foam”. I went for the spicy cucumber sorbet first which was a nice confusion of taste as you do not expect sorbet to taste like cucumber – or to be spicy (although that I have had quite a few times already). However, the mango jus topped with mint foam was not a single bit less interesting. Especially the mint foam on top of it really made it a great dish.

To finish off the dinner, a “tajine apple tarte, vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce” was served. The tarte was sweet but rich and the ice cream the perfect element to bring a nice cold end to the dinner.

The place itself is truly amazing – absolutely loved it. Not only the terrace is great …

… but the whole building is somehow quite outstanding. Especially as you have the little patio in which you dine in the end and which you can look into from the terrace.

The menu you get when you are on the terrace with a nice little light so you are also able to read it as it gets dark quite early in December in Morocco. The service is close to flawless. There is always someone there, you do not have to wait long, and last but not least, your glasses are never empty.

The little patio I mentioned before, looks like this from the top – and you get to pick your table right at the little bassin if you are early (there are more tables inside for larger groups). What I must say – I like the playful element of the rubber ducky which takes some seriousness out of the whole experience (which is a good thing).

When you are in Marrakesh, I can absolutely recommend you to come to the Maison MK as …

… the place is truly outstanding and you will have a great experience with regards to the location and to the service. But also the dishes are quite fine. They do, in my opinion, not match the standard of the premise or the service entirely but definitely come close. You won’t be disappointed but also not mind-blown.

With regards to the price, I consider it really fair to charge 650 MAD for the menu, 110 MAD for a Mojito, 320 MAD for a bottle of Volubilia, 2011, and 35 MAD for a bottle of sparkling water being well aware that for Morocco this is definitely a pricey exercise. However, it is absolutely worth going here. Make sure you book a table in advance though as else you won’t be able to dine here – there is only a very limited range of tables in the hotel (which only has 6 bedrooms).

Rating:

Atmosphere:
Service:
Dishes:
Price-Performance Ratio:
Overall Rating:

Contact Details:

Restaurant Maison MK

Derb Sebaai 14

Quartier Ksour, Medina

40000 Marrakesh (MA)

Tel.: +212 52 43 76 173

Tel.: +44 14 28 68 22 62

E-Mail: stay@maisonmk.com

Homepage: http://www.maisonmk.com

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.