On Saturday, Pauline and I went to our yet another Winterlicious event. We didn’t make reservations in advance, so probably the popular places were already booked. Instead we tried Café Moroc near St Lawrence Market. We were able to get a reservation for 1PM, calling ahead on Saturday morning. Surprisingly, there weren’t a lot of people but the place was full by the time we left at 2PM (we are such trend-setters).
Café Moroc is actually one of three restaurants at the location (I assume same owner). The cafe is at the front, while The Sultan’s Tent is at the back and Berber is at the side. The cafe is more standard although it is still decorated in a North African style (such as our teapot of Mint tea). The Sultan’s Tent is much fancier where everyone sits in tented private booths. We picked this restaurant primarily because it is a bit different than the normal fusion restaurants that are available. I had known about The Sultan’s Tent and Café Moroc for a few years now, but this was the first time we went.
We started off with Maftoul which were hand rolled “Moroccan Cigars”, hot crispy pastry with a mixture of mildy spiced beef, cashews, and raisins topped with chipotle aioli and the Harara which was a hearty tomato based broth, with chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils and a blend of Moroccan spices (not pictured). Maftoul was actually a lot like spring rolls (aside from the taste obviously), while the Harara was a generic soup.
For our main course, Pauline ordered the Sesame Crusted Salmon which was a 5-ounce fillet of salmon crusted with Dijon and sesame, served with a lemon scented green bean salad, gingered sweet potato and carrot mash, topped with mango chutney coulis. The salmon was relatively generic. I ended up ordering the Moroc Burger which was a spiced mixture of ground lamb and beef, served with lightly spiced onion and raisin chutney, fresh tomato and lettuce, served with your choice of Moroc Frites or Café greens. The burger seems like an odd choice, but I didn’t like the other choices (baguette or pitas); it wasn’t all bad because there was a definite lamb taste to the Moroc burger.
For dessert we chose the Moroccan Treats (Traditionally made Moroccan cookie and pastry accompanied with Latshin, a light and refreshing traditional desert of fresh orange slices sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon) and the Brulée Royale (A rich and flavourful crème brulée). I’m not sure what made the Brulée one of the royal variety because it tasted like a normal Crème Brulée, while the “treats” was also unsubstantial.
I think this restaurant is worth trying because it’s a non-typical experience in how the dishes are prepared as well as the environment. Unless you are from Northern Africa and are used to it. It’s not really worth it for Winterlicious because for one, it’s not “fine dining” – I was able to eat my entire meal without using utensils. Secondly, it’s neither great value nor is the quality of the food special. This was like a $10 lunch burger, with a spring roll and a few free cookies at the end.
I would recommend going at a normal time and ordering whatever piques your interest instead of fighting through the Winterlicious crowd.
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