The first morning of a trip to London in September found me walking a lot. Through Hoxton and Haggerston, across Shoreditch High Street to Spitalfields, all the way down to London Bridge, where I took my own damn self on a romantic walk along the River Thames. I crossed the bridge, which for some reason…
After the perfect day of doing London things in London, I took myself out on a romantic dinner date to Andrew Edmunds in Soho. I read up on the place while sipping a not-so-frosty pre-dinner pint at the Duke of Argyll pub. (Do Brits like their beer room temp, or is it just me?) The…
You gotta get the soup dumplings and the spicy dan dan beef noodles at Dumpling Shack in Spitalfields Market when in East London. Opinions on this place converged; enough people with different tastes, budgets and lifestyles recommended it to designate a statistically significant sample size. So I popped over for lunch before my train to…
“Wanna meet for a bagel on Brick Lane? Big cultural experience.” An innocent enough message before a night full of misunderstandings that might have gone differently had I overthought a bit less and just gone for the bagel plan. But j’avais la flemme [insert shoulder raise and pursed French lips sputtering to express general annoyance…
For a few years there, I kind of forgot about London. It just hadn’t really been on my radar. I didn’t have anything against the city, but nothing drew me there either. “London? Meh…” would be my official stance, as I’d list the many other place I would rather live in or visit. That stance…
Ten strangers from around the world stand around a one long table in the courtyard of a riad near the Bahia Palace in Marrakech. In the center of the table, next to me, is Chef Laila, who’s been cooking Moroccan food professionally for over 30 years. Her sous-chef? Another local chef by the name of…
There’s really no blue like Majorelle Blue, or HEX code #6050dc to be more precise. We visited the birthplace of this blue, the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech, and took our time to really take it in, staring at the Cubic villa surrounded by neatly manicured gardens, cactus orchards and bamboo groves, its walls painted the…
I will never forget the way the morning sunshine embraced the stacked and layered architecture of the riad Dar Chibania, casting a complex tapestry of light and shade on an already super textured space. It took some time for our eyes to adjust to all the novelty: the vibrant zellij tiles, ornate antique lanterns and…
On the penultimate day of our week spent in Marrakech, we decided to have a “douchebag day,” our endearing term for the kind of program that brings together all the glitz & glamor of the city’s luxury travel scene. A day spent drinking frozé poolside at Nikki Beach to contrast with the tour of the…
If I could pick just one restaurant in Marrakech to return to and recommend to foodie friends, it would be Chez Lamine in the souk Ablouh Kessabine, just off Jemaa el Fnaa. Chez Lamine is the uncontested OG of Méchoui Alley, founded by the late N’guyer Haj Mustapha, revered for his quality-first approach to everything…
Situated northeast of Jemaa el Fna in the Marrakech medina is a very popular pastry and juice shop called Pâtisserie & Jus AL Jaouda (or Al Jawda, according to TripAdvisor). Within a half-mile radius of this bakery you’ll see boys and girls snacking on their ginormous milles-feuilles, which is quite clearly their flagship product and…
A pre-booked day trip with a Berber guide named Said had us touring a female-owned argan oil cooperative, hiking in the Atlas Mountains and riding one-humped dromedaries out in the Agafay Desert. Somewhere along the way we visited our guide’s parents’ house in Imlil, where we enjoyed mint tea (expertly poured from a height) while…
Bright lights reflected on glossy, laminated menus. Fragrant steam wafting into the open night sky. The calls and gestures of vendors proudly touting their wares, regional specialties with exotic names. Bubbling earthenware cauldrons, sizzling grills, animal parts, juices, soups and broths. Here a stack of fresh cactus fruit, there a couple of sheep livers on…
I arrived in Marrakech with a long list of foods to try: tagine, tangia and couscous, harira and bessara, chebakia, méchoui… It’d been far too long since I’d visited somewhere new; a continent, a langage, a religion and a cuisine that were completely foreign to me. It’d also been far too long since I’d visited…
A smooch on the head good-bye to my gecko named Tokaji, a 6 a.m. flight out from Mérignac airport, a severely overpriced cab ride to our riad and it’s like we’re waking up in a completely different world: the bustling medina of Marrakech. We took a moment to catch our breath as we explored the…
That Best Bite 