MARRAKECH · RESTAURANTS
Dar Essalam
Moroccan restaurant
Dar Essalam
Moroccan restaurant
Dar Essalam is a historic Moroccan restaurant set inside a 17th-century palace in the heart of the Marrakech medina, just off Riad Zitoun Kedim near Jemaa el-Fna. Founded in 1952 by Mohamed El Karnighi, it is widely described as the first Moroccan restaurant in Marrakech, and its painted cedar ceilings, carved stucco and century-old zellige tilework have made it one of the city's best-known dinner-and-show venues.
The palace gained lasting fame as a filming location for Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 thriller "The Man Who Knew Too Much," starring James Stewart and Doris Day; the restaurant marks the connection with a plaque on site. Today dinner is accompanied by a traditional Marrakchi orchestra, Gnaoua musicians and oriental dance, and a rooftop terrace looks out over the Koutoubia minaret and the medina rooftops.