Best cheap eats in Tamraght: where backpackers actually eat
Find the best budget meals in Tamraght, Morocco. Street food, local joints, and tagine spots where backpackers stretch their dirhams.
The BUNK Team
Work-for-stay travellers & hostel nerds
If you're volunteering at a hostel on BUNK or spending any real time in Tamraght, you'll eat. A lot. And the good news is that Tamraght has quietly become the better food village—it's less packed than Taghazout, the queues are shorter, and the mid-range dinner spots are punching above their weight.
The catch? You have to know where to look. The beachfront café strip gets touristy fast, but head to Tamraght instead of Taghazout for the same food and half the queue—a 15-minute walk or 20-dirham taxi away.
The real cheap eats aren't on the main drag. They're in the family-run joints tucked one street back, the grill spots near the beach, and the sandwich carts that appear when the weather's good. With the rapid influx of boujee cafes and restaurants in Tamraght, there are still cheap, locally-owned eateries popping up—the no-frills, hole-in-the-wall kind of joints with five things on the menu.
Street food and sandwich spots
Sandwiches run about 10dh or so—that's under €1. Two sandwich carts park up when the weather is good towards the beach: Sandwich Kamal and Abdu Fast Food, where you can choose between kefta or sausage with salad. It's better to let the chef take the lead—super tasty, super cheap.
A proper Moroccan sandwich (tuna, kefta, or chicken with salad, chips, and harissa stuffed into a baguette) runs 25-35 dirhams. Grab one on your walk back from the beach, or eat it before dinner if you're splitting a meal with someone.
For soup, head north up the street, climbing the stairs to upper Tamraght, where you'll find a blue coffee van that often has a few pots of soup brewing in the afternoons—only about 20dh (€2) for a bowl.
The 25-dh spots: Chez Mimoun and similar
Chez Mimoun has been around for a while, a tiny restaurant nestled along Tamraght's busiest shopping and dining strip. The chicken with potatoes, lemon and olives is super filling and only 25dh (€2.50).
On Fridays, they do couscous (chicken or vegetable) for 30dh (€3)—probably the cheapest you'll find in Tamraght.
This is where you eat like a local, not like a tourist. The menu doesn't change. You sit on a plastic chair. There's no wifi. Nobody cares. That's the whole point.
Fish and grilled meat
The move for fresh seafood is simple: head to the fish market near the port area, pick your fish (dorade, sole, sardines, calamari, whatever came in), and take it to one of the grills that'll cook it for a small fee. In Tamraght, the little grill spots on the road toward Banana Beach do this cleanly.
If you don't want to hunt for your own fish, Chez Mimi and the seafront spots do full fish plates for 80-150 dirhams. Order the catch of the day, not the menu.
Tagines and traditional meals
For just €5, you can enjoy one of the best tajines or couscous in town. This isn't a tourist markup—it's genuinely what you pay at the local spots.
If you're in the mood for a quick breakfast, omelets are only €2. Kisslaz Café blends Moroccan and European cuisines with a Berber omelette, calamari tagine, and avocado smoothies.
A solid tagine or seafood plate at a village restaurant is commonly cited by surf-travel guides at well under 100 MAD. At that price, two of you can eat well for the cost of a decent hostel bed.
Healthy bowls and café culture
Not everyone wants tagine every day. Let's Be is a bright and cheerful spot in the centre of Tamraght with colourful, generous, and health-conscious dishes, with lots of vegetarian and vegan choices. You'll also find a wide variety of drinks—smoothies, kombucha, teas, energy shots, and more.
Coffee in Tamraght runs for less than 20dh, every day. If you're working at a hostel, that's the kind of routine expense that actually matters.
Timing beats everything
Eat lunch late and dinner early—lunch at 14:30 and dinner at 19:00 puts you ahead of both the tourist wave and the Moroccan wave. This isn't a hack for saving money; it's how the locals eat anyway. The bonus? Less crowded restaurants, faster service, and better focus from the kitchen.
Peak domestic tourism runs queues of 45 minutes to two hours at dinner from mid-July through August, and around Eid. Fridays are apocalyptic, because everyone wants couscous.
Most places only accept cash, so make sure to withdraw money in advance, as ATMs aren't always reliable.
Frequently asked questions
Can you eat for under €3 a day in Tamraght?
Easily. A 10dh sandwich, a 20dh bowl of soup, and a €5 tagine gets you through a day for less than €10 total. If you're doing a work exchange, most hostels also throw in communal dinners or breakfast.
Is it rude to eat at the street food carts?
No. Moroccan street food is at least 10 times fresher, cheaper, and tastier than any fast food you'll find at a chain restaurant. This is where locals eat, and tourists who treat these spots as gimmicks miss the point entirely.
Do restaurants have vegetarian options?
Let's Be has lots of vegetarian and vegan choices, and traditional Moroccan restaurants serve traditional dishes at low prices like lentils or Moroccan soup. Fish and seafood are also widely available if you eat pescatarian.
Should I avoid eating the seafood?
No. Order the catch of the day, not the menu. If they can't tell you what came in that morning, leave. Fresh seafood is one of Tamraght's strengths, and it's cheaper than meat.
