Description: After our return to Marrakech, our tour operator had arranged a couple of free meals and a free city tour to see us on our way. Our first meal in Marrakech was for lunch at a rather basic looking place, the Oscar Progres right in the centre of town near the dusty and hot main square. After the culture shock of seeing so many people after a week up in the mountains it was a relief to sink into the clean and shiny tiled Oscar Progres where there was much less noise and bustle.
The restaurant Oscar Progres is set out in rows of long tables so you may have to share with other diners; the clientele were mainly tour groups when we visited, but encouragingly there were also some local families dining here.
We ate from the set lunch menu for 100 dirham (about £6 for 3 courses). You can have one course for around £3 if you wish. The restaurant doesn't serve alcohol so you have the standard Moroccan choice of water, fanta orange or lemon, coke, sprite or pom (a fizzy apple drink). I chose the latter and actually rather liked it.
For starter I chose the simple Moroccan salad and liked my fresh tomato and onion with herbs. It wasn't too over facing but neither was it a simple teaspoon full or two either.
For the main dish, again the restaurant largely offered the choice of one of Morocco's three main staples; Tagine, Cous Cous or kebab. The folks that chose the mixed Kebab did the best as there was plenty of meat (minced, lamb and chicken tikka) with freshly cooked rice. I chose Chicken Tagine which was huge, but arrived without the Chicken. It was OK but unexceptional; after a week in the mountains where Tagine with courgette and carrot loomed large another pile of the stuff didn't exactly entice me.
Our sweet was a tub of yoghurt which again was hardly luxurious but they had sold out of all the other sweets on the set menu.
Service was very good if a little surly; we had arrived a little later after 1:00 pm and our guide suggested they were anxious to serve our meal before their 2:00 prayer. We ate on Friday the main religious day, so we should have known better.
To sum up; the Oscar Progres gets top marks for cleanliness, the food was very Moroccan and although very good was nothing exceptional but was good value for money and our service was quick. My only advice is that perhaps the set lunch is not the best deal; a main course will fill you up, and if you are arriving for lunch then arrive by 1:00 pm to ensure the staff aren't trying to rush you out of the door so they can make prayers in good time.
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