Moroccan & French breakfast
Best Breakfast in Casablanca — French Pastries Meet Moroccan Bread
Casablanca does the best of both breakfast worlds: French-style patisseries and café-croissant culture alongside the Moroccan spread of msemmen, harcha, honey and amlou. It is the country's most European morning, with excellent coffee to match.
- City
- Casablanca
- Cuisine
- Moroccan & French breakfast
- Typical price
- 15-90 MAD
Thanks to its French heritage, Casablanca has Morocco's strongest café-and-patisserie breakfast culture. The city is full of proper patisseries and boulangeries turning out croissants, pain au chocolat, brioche and French-style cakes, eaten with a good espresso or café au lait at a pavement table. For a European-style morning — flaky pastry, strong coffee, the newspaper — Casablanca is the place.
The Moroccan breakfast is just as present. Cafés and morning stalls serve the classic spread: msemmen and harcha griddle breads with honey, jam, soft cheese and amlou (the almond-argan-oil spread), baghrir pancakes, olives and eggs, all washed down with mint tea. Around the old medina and the markets you will find sfenj doughnut fryers and bissara soup stalls doing the cheap, traditional workers' breakfast.
The city's coffee game is a cut above, a legacy of French café culture and a modern specialty-coffee wave in districts like Gauthier and Maârif. The classic local orders still apply — nous-nous (half coffee, half milk), café cassé (espresso with a splash of milk) — but you will also find third-wave roasters and espresso bars for a more contemporary cup.
Whether you want a French patisserie start, a full Moroccan spread or a cheap sfenj-and-tea on the move, Casablanca has it, often on the same street. Cafés here are unhurried social spaces, so settle in — a coffee and a pastry buys you a comfortable morning hour.
How to eat well
- 1
Casablanca's French-style patisseries are the best in Morocco — start with a croissant and café au lait.
- 2
For the Moroccan spread, order msemmen and harcha with amlou, honey and mint tea.
- 3
The Gauthier and Maârif districts have the city's specialty-coffee bars for a modern cup.
- 4
Around the old medina, cheap sfenj doughnuts and bissara give a traditional workers' breakfast.
- 5
Learn the coffee orders: nous-nous (half milk) and café cassé (espresso with a dash of milk).
Frequently asked questions
What is breakfast like in Casablanca?
A blend of French and Moroccan: excellent patisseries serving croissants and coffee alongside the traditional spread of griddle breads, honey, amlou and mint tea. It is Morocco's most European breakfast city.
Where can I get good coffee in Casablanca?
Almost everywhere, thanks to French café heritage, with specialty-coffee bars concentrated in the Gauthier and Maârif districts. Order a nous-nous for the classic half-coffee-half-milk local cup.
Can I get a Moroccan breakfast in Casablanca?
Yes — cafés and stalls serve msemmen, harcha, baghrir, honey, amlou, olives and eggs with mint tea, and the old-medina area has sfenj doughnut fryers and bissara stalls for a cheaper traditional start.