The short answer
Mechoui Alley is a short lane of stalls off the northeast corner of Jemaa el-Fnaa, beside the spice market, where whole lambs are slow-roasted in clay pit ovens under the street and sold by weight. Go around midday, before about 14:00, when the best cuts start to run out. Many stalls rest on Friday.
In more detail
Every morning, whole lambs are lowered into underground wood-fired ovens and left to roast for hours. By late morning the meat is soft enough to pull apart by hand. The stallholder lifts a lamb out, carves what you ask for and weighs it. A quarter-kilo is about one portion.
It comes on brown paper with a pinch of cumin and salt, round bread and a glass of mint tea. You eat it with your fingers at a bench. That is the whole meal.
The best-known stall is Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha, the flagship of the alley since the 1960s. Tanjia, the city's own clay-urn dish, is also cooked to order in the alley. It sits at the edge of the spice square, so it pairs well with a morning in the souks.
Timing is the whole trick. The lamb is ready by midday and gone by early afternoon, so this is a lunch, not a dinner. On Friday, many of the stalls are closed. Agree the weight and the price before they carve.
Good to know
- Arrive between late morning and about 14:00.
- Ask for a quarter-kilo per person to start.
- Pick a day other than Friday.