Best Seafood in Asilah — Fresh Fish in the Whitewashed Art Town

Asilah has been a fishing port for centuries, and seafood remains the heart of its table. The boats bring in sea bream, sea bass, sardines, sole, calamari and prawns, and the town's restaurants — many clustered just outside the medina walls and along the seafront — cook them simply: grilled whole over charcoal, fried, or turned into a chermoula-spiced tagine. The setting is half the meal, with the white ramparts and the Atlantic as a backdrop.

The classic order is a whole fish grilled with salt, cumin and lemon, served with bread and a chopped tomato-and-onion salad, or a mixed plate of fried small fish and calamari (friture) for variety. Prawns sizzled in garlic, calamari in tomato sauce, and grilled sardines round out the repertoire. Because Asilah is small and the catch is landed locally, freshness is easy to find — look for busy tables and a mostly Moroccan crowd, especially outside peak summer.

Asilah fills with visitors in summer and during its annual arts festival, when the medina walls are repainted with new murals, so seafood restaurants can get busy and prices rise a little in season. Out of peak times it reverts to a quiet fishing town where a plate of grilled fish costs very little. The whitewashed lanes of the medina, with their painted walls and glimpses of the sea, make a lovely place to walk off the meal.

Eat where the turnover is high, confirm the per-kilo price before your fish is grilled, and pair it with the local bread and a fresh salad. Sunset over the Atlantic from the ramparts, with dinner to follow, is the way to do an Asilah evening.