Moroccan Traditional Banquet Menu at Occo

This Summer Marylebone’s favourite Moroccan restaurant and bar, Occo on Crawford Street has teamed up with Epicure Wines to launch a very special new traditional Moroccan banquet menu, cleverly pairing a fine range of regional Moroccan wines with a selection of very traditional home-style dishes.

The ebullient proprietor Sam Ahmimed is a great advocate of truly authentic Moroccan cooking and traditional ways of serving and eating it. Such feasts are eaten normally at family gatherings and celebrations without cutlery using delicious freshly baked breads to scoop up each mouthful in the authentic Moroccan way. At the end of each course hands are gently washed with rosewater ready for the next dish.

Occo’s Head Chef Ahmed Hamidi and Hughes Brisset from Epicure Wines have joined forces and combined their collective experience and knowledge of Moroccan food and wine, selecting the finest Moroccan wines and pairing them with the range of dishes to produce this exciting new 6-course menu.

We were lucky enough to have been invited to the preview and a most delicious feast it was. The mezze of starter salads were not the usual tired old favourites but were subtly spiced and fresh and came served stuffed into chicory or little gem leaves making them quite easy to manage by hand.

The first main course of sea bass was delicious in spite of our finger techniques not quite being up to the job. By the time we got to the lamb tagine our skills had improved (or our inhibitions had gone, thanks to the generous splurges of wine) and we found dipping together brought us closer, which is one of the chief joys of sharing good food. The final piece de resistance was the chicken pastilla, simply the best, with tender pieces of chicken nestling in a spicy almond filling inside crispy layers of filo pastry.

I can recommend this if you want a great foodie night out. The best thing would be to get up a group of eight friends.

Occo Banquet Menu

£45 Per head without wine
£ 65 Per head with wine

A selection of traditional Moroccan salads and mezze

Wine match: Halana Syrah Rose, Ben M’tir

Baked wild sea bass stuffed with chermoula-marinated seafood and vermicelli served on a bed of baked potatoes and tomatoes

Wine match: Medaillon Sauvignon Blanc, Ben M’tir

Orange carrot and rosewater shourba

Tagine of saffron and ginger marinated lamb shoulder and leg served with sweet potato, prunes and almonds

Wine Match: Medaillon Red, Ben Slimane

Chicken pastilla – chicken, almonds and dates, mixed
with cinnamon and saffron in a pastry parcel

Wine match: Domaine de Sahari, Guerrouane

A selection of Moroccan pastries

Fresh Mint Tea

Moroccan wines tend to be rich with complex flavours that go really well with the deeply aromatic yet subtle flavours of Moroccan cooking.

The Occo banquet menu is priced at £65 per head with five glasses of wine and £45 per head without wine and is available at dinner throughout the summer months at 48 hours notice.

To book a table for dinner at Occo to sample this exquisite new menu please contact Sam Ahmimed on 020 7724 4991.