Time’s a wastin’ and Ramadan is in full swing. The tour of Tangiers restaurants continues with Hammadi’s, which features gorgeous decor, live music, amazing olives, and some fun people watching…

Hammadi’s is definitely a restaurant built for tourists, but I visited on the recommendation of several locals and was happy I tried it. Despite the elaborate setting – room after room of bright ponges (cushion-y benches lining the walls of a room) decorated with bright local fabrics and some pretty fantastic late colonial-era tourist kitsch – the menu is fairly straightforward and competitively priced (plus if you’re lucky, free mint tea at the end of the meal).

The pastilla, while good, won’t knock you over (like some pastilla, ahem at Agadir ahem). The chicken tagine is tasty and served with honestly the best olives I have tasted in my entire life (though no guarantees – on a return visit the magical olives weren’t there. I think the smaller the group, perhaps, the better the olives). The best item on the menu might be the lamb tagine, which is served with plenty of honey-sweet sesame-bedecked prunes that constitute dessert on their own.

The best part about Hammadi’s, other than the atmosphere (which includes, btw, a traditional Moroccan musical group playing Andalusian style music periodically, a nice touch), is undoubtedly the people-watching. My personal favorite was a family of tourists so sunburned that they matched the red decor: priceless. The service is pleasant and fast and they were obliging enough to write out separate checks for every one of our large group, which meant an evening happily bereft of restaurant-check-math, which I hate.

The location is excellent as well: right there against the wall of the medina and just below the kasbah.

2 Rue Italia, Tangiers

For a complete set of photos see here.