After a full day traipsing around monuments and museums in a strange city I tend to prefer a set menu and a sit down rather than just a sandwich on the fly. As such I can certainly recommend La Medina, a funky little North African place with some funky North African food.
I was attracted by the board outside, advertising their €11.00 Formule du Jour. For that price you get two courses out of:
Entrée: Salade des Crudites, Tabouleh, Soupe Chorba, Soupe Hirira
Plat: Assiette Grillade Royale, Tagine Poulet et Limon
Dessert: Glace, Patisserie Oriental, Fondant au Chocolat.
Now I love North African food. I think my holiday in Morocco in 2004 was the trip in which I consistently ate the best for an entire fortnight, so I needed little persuasion to sit down and order tabouleh, and the tagine poulet, with a 50cl bottle of water to go with it.
I sat in the sun. Rue des Teinturiers is a great little street towards the south-east of the walled city, and I really urge everyone to search it out, even if they are not eating. This street is scenic and vibrant and quite counter-cultural. It is a winding narrow way (one car wide - if that!) alongside the Sorgne canal, where dyers used to work. The canal is still dotted by bridges across to chapels, and an old water wheel. The other side of the street has a whole range of trendy little restaurants, second-hand bookshops, bamboo-fronded tearooms, ethnic clothing boutiques, and even the odd theatre. They all spill out into the road so you have to weave between sari-swathed mannekins, trestle tables stacked with books, jewellery stalls and the chairs of diners. This was the case with la Medina. Inside were frescoed walls depicting a Moroccan scene, but I prefered to sit under the shade of parasol and tree across from the blue and white Islamic-tiled shopfront amidst a cluster of wobbly tables and chairs with vividly-hued cushions and mats (and carpets on the wall). The owner was here and there, smiling and joking with his customers, with a ready flash of his teeth and an even readier laugh.
It wasn't long before my toabouleh came out, a mix of bulgur wheat with chopped mint, parsley, tomato and red peppers. It was mildly spicy, with a lemon juice tang that set me up for my main course. The tagine was served in a tagine (the conical-lidded bowl after whom the dish is named - much like a casserole). This was an entire breast of chicken in sauce, complete with around a doxen plump green olives. A side dish of couscous was served to help mop up the piquant sauce. It was very tasty, and it was quite a meaty chunk of bird that I got for my money.
In total my bill (including water) was €13, which was reasonable for what I got. I would not hesitate to recommend this place to anyone with a love of North African cuisine, or to return there again myself. Yet even if you do not, certainly do not miss out on the atmospheric Rue des Teinturiers, a shady world away from the staid sun-blasted monuments at the north of town.
From journal Sur le Pont d'Avignon