Restaurant Review: Little Marakesh

The belly dancer’s smoky sultry eyes searched out those in the crowd as she sauntered up and down the center aisle of the restaurant.  She paused at each table with a sly smile and flick of the hip. 

Her performance lasted only three or four songs, but certainly completed the mirage, transporting us instantly away from the cold dreary winter evening, and landing us in an oasis of Moroccan culture. 

The décor - lush red drapery, colorful glass lanterns, and knee level pressed brass tables surrounded by plush couches - is more akin to a Sultan’s palace in Morocco, rather than your true global position: a strip mall in Dresher. 

Little Marakesh, which advertises “free parking for your camel,” offers diners two choices: the Jasmine Feast (four courses, $25.95 per person), or the Sultans Feast (six courses, $31.95 per person). 

Drinks are extra, and if you haven’t brought along your alcoholic beverage of choice, there are plenty of refreshing fruit juices on the menu, like peach and mango. 

After ordering, the server brought a brass pitcher and ewer to the table for a traditional hand washing. Warm water, fragrant with infused jasmine, was poured over our hands to clean them for use while eating.

Despite the utensils provided, we used our freshly cleaned hands, and a basket of pita bread, for scooping and dipping the first course.  A beautiful platter of smooth, creamy hummus (pureed chickpea dip), tangy baba ganoush (chopped eggplant dip), herby sweet and soft carrot salad, and cool refreshing cucumber salad arrived and we dug in.

Since we chose the Sultan’s Feast, the next course was Chicken Bastilla – a phyllo mound with a detailed camel stenciled atop in powdered sugar and cinnamon.  After a moment admiring the artwork, we broke through the flakey dough to find tender shreds of spiced chicken intermingled with crunchy bits of almonds.

An extremely hot, dome-covered plate arrived next.  It had been cooked for four hours, so the meat fell right off the bone of the whole chicken pieces and was thoroughly infused with tart lemon and tangy green olive flavors.

Couscous followed this to cool things down, and the plain, sand-sized grains of pasta were jazzed up with sautéed onions, puffed sweet raisins, and whole chickpeas.

Small kabobs were the final course before dessert, and we chose the lamb, and varied herbed vegetables. We enjoyed the tiny bites of lemon spiked meat, but were especially happy with the zucchini, peppers, and mushrooms since it had been four courses since we had seen vegetables.

Dessert diamonds of Baklava layered sweet honey glazed phyllo and chopped nuts, and although tasty, we were too full to eat more than one sticky bite.  The mint tea served alongside was lovely and calmed our full bellies. 

At every turn the food at Little Marakesh provides something unexpected.  The juxtaposition of savory and sweet, or tart and tangy flavors may be a little out of the American palate’s comfort zone, but that is what makes this place such a diamond in the rough. 

Little Marakesh is a world away, right in our own backyard.

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Little Marakesh receives 3.5 out of 5 Whisks for making me feel like I’m on
an exotic vacation without a needing a passport.

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Second Helping of Information:

Location – 1825 S. Limekiln Pike, Dresher, PA

Hours –Wednesday and Thursday 5pm – 11pm, Friday and Saturday 5pm – 1am

Phone – 215-643-3003

Website - http://www.littlemarakesh.com

On the Kids Menu – This place is like Disney World -- thoroughly themed -- making it a fun and different experience.  That being said, there are a few things to consider before bringing your children.

There is no kids menu, so the kids must either be adventurous eaters, or fed before arrival. 

The belly dancer absolutely mesmerized my children, but be prepared, her outfit was skimpy. 

My kids are too young for this to embarrass them, and they have seen more inappropriately dressed ladies strutting by our beach blanket in family-friendly Ocean City, but tweens may react differently. 

The belly dancer also encourages tipping, which is done by putting dollar bills in her belt.  If you are uncomfortable doing it this way, I am sure you could tip her afterwards.

Another thing to consider when bringing your children is that they allow patrons to smoke flavored tobacco out of hookahs (water pipes.)  The possibility of second hand smoke didn’t occur to me before arriving with my kids in tow, since the smoking ban legislation (sponsored by State Senator Greenleaf) went into effect years ago. 

Perhaps they have the special permission granted to cigar bars and the like?

In any event, it is possible to arrive early enough to avoid the smoking, but our 6:30 p.m. reservation led to a departure hours later, around 9 p.m., the beginning of permissible smoking hours on a Friday night. (Hookah is offered even earlier, at 8pm, on Wednesdays and Thursdays.)  The ventilation system must be pretty effective, though, since I couldn’t smell the smoke, and was, frankly, more put off by the chemical fumes of the Windex used to clean the tables.