Moltaqa Moroccan Restaurant is a cosy restaurant that transports the diner to Morocco. The restaurant serves halal meats and their bread is made fresh daily by a Moroccan baker. There is a dearth of Moroccan restaurants in Vancouver, so it’s nice to have the opportunity to try this cuisine.
I dropped by with my friend Alex to try a few of their dishes earlier this month. Unfortunately we didn’t come on Friday and Saturday – we were told that they have a belly dancer in house to provide some entertainment!
We started with a sampler platter of some of their appetizers. It came with a lovely loaf of bread that was great for scooping up all the different salads. My favourite was the carrot lemon – the lemon had a lovely zing that complemented the sweet carrot.
The lamb merquez wasn’t gamey and the texture was spot on. It was packed full of spices and deliciously savoury. It was my favourite dish of the night.
This is a very unique dish because I would never have thought to mix chicken with cinnamon and icing sugar. The Philo was light and flakey, and it encased a healthy serving of chicken. It was interesting to try, and the taste definitely grew on me. The serving size is on the smaller size for the price point, but if you’re a fan of sweet and savoury dishes, this dish would be worth a try.
We finished our dinner with a Lamb Shank Tagine. It is an impressive dish to behold when it arrived at our table. The lid was lifted and clouds of steam bellowed out. The lamb was slow braised with carrots, pumpkin and potatoes and was fork tender. The dish was on the sweeter side from the figs.
Overall it was an interesting experience to try. The owner was gracious, but the service was quite harried as they were severely understaffed the night that I went. If you’ve never had Moroccan food before, this is the place to get an introduction. I’m unfamiliar with Moroccan cuisine, but for me the dishes all veered to the sweeter side and I don’t foresee myself hurrying back here.