When visiting Marrakech for the first time in October 2018 I asked my hotel to commend a good French restaurant, and Le Grand Cafe de la Poste was the suggestion given (because higher quality ones were closed for refurbishment). The restaurant was said to serve classical French bistro style food in an impressive colonial building, with a good atmosphere.

The restaurant occupies a site on a popular road junction somewhere in the town: I wasn’t in Marrakech long enough to become familiar with the complex layout of the old Medina and the more recent developments on its edges.  The building (and restaurant ‘check-in’) is accessed through a curbside terrace, then an inner terrace, where people sit, drink and chat (but no alcoholic drinks are allowed ‘outside’). Upon entering the building you’re faced with a dramatic staircase with a comfy sofa in front of it. The dining room is indeed bistro-like and at the back is an open kitchen.  That staircase, the low-lit room with black and white tiled floors and potted palms, and ceiling fans really did carry the feeling of colonial France.

We began with Mojitos, wish were nice and refreshing, but surprisingly they contained less fresh mint than a bar in London would serve you (fresh mint is everywhere in Marrakech).  Our first courses were Foie Grass for me and salmon and monkfish tartare for Mr. A.  My two slices of half cooked foie was good, and poached pears were a lovely accompaniment. But the small brioche was very dry (stale).  4/10 Mr A’s fish dish tasted really horrible! 0.5/10

We had a long wait for our main courses to arrive. We both went for the duck confit, but we found it quite disappointing:  I would put money on it being tinned, it was red and salty and the skin wasn’t crisp. I’m afraid I couldn’t eat much of it. 0/10. And because we weren’t impressed with the food we didn’t bother with a dessert.

We moved from our table to finish our bottle of wine on the sofa at the foot of the staircase, but it took 20 minutes for our bill to arrive, and then another 10 minutes for me to be given the ‘correct’ PDQ machine for my card payment.  With the slow food service and this delay, we were there for over two hours. Le Grand Cafe de la Poste did have a pleasant buzz about it, and it was full, but I was terribly disappointed.  2/10