Almuerzo en el Royal Mansour

A door in the medina wall opens onto private lanes, then onto the palace gardens. Lunch is at La Grande Table Marocaine, under carved plaster and painted cedar, in a room that seats fewer people than you expect.

The kitchen works from the Moroccan canon rather than around it. Two, three or four courses: seasonal salads first, then a tagine, a pastilla, or the house couscous, which on Fridays is served the way Moroccan families serve it. Service is unhurried and the room stays quiet.

The table takes guests who are not staying at the palace, by reservation only, and it fills weeks ahead in spring. Smart dress. Suits a first day in Marrakech, or an afternoon that continues into the spa upstairs.