UNIQUE Street Food in Fes, Morocco - CAMEL DUMPLINGS & DUCK PASTILLA + MOROCCAN FOOD TOUR IN FEZ

Anybody want some briwat, bekyat, no? Hey everyone, I'm Steph. Chris is behind the camera and we're hungry to travel. We are in Fez, the culinary capital of Morocco. Founded over 1,200 years ago, this is the largest and oldest medina in the world. Pretty much just a maze full of some of the most incredible and delicious food of the country. We cannot wait to get eating today, so come on, let's go. Look at all these dates and figs and nuts. Oh, sure. Wow. They need to go big, yeah. So juicy. I'm surprised at how thick this date is. They're usually not this thick. That is a good quality date. It's nice and soft, mushy, good texture. Dates are really popular here in Morocco. They're grown all over. And these are really good quality. Mm, that's good. The chouara leather tanneries from the 11th century are one of the oldest functioning tanneries in the world. Cow, goat, and camel hides are cleaned and softened with cow urine, pigeon feces, and quicklime, giving off such a stench, you can smell the tanneries before you can see them. The hides are soaked in natural dyes, dried in the sun, and sold to craftsmen, with the entire process completely manual, using methods unchanged for over 1,000 years. Fez's famed leather goods can be found all over the Medina, from bags and shoes to poufs and belts, this is the best city in Morocco for leather. So this is a briouwat, which is a triangular yufka dough, and inside there's almonds and cinnamon and orange blossom water, and it's quite hard. I believe they're deep fried and then they're soaked in honey. Look at this guy. It's quite crispy on the outside, and inside, it's actually not too soft. It's quite hard from all the almonds inside of there, it's really dense and packed, but that is sweet. You can see how juicy it is inside of there. Oh, it's been eaten, very nice, super nice. So these are shebekia, and you can see they're much more time-consuming to make because they're in this sort of rose shape, and they are deep fried and then coated in honey. You can see how juicy it looks with the honey there. Let's try it out. Okay, not crispy how I was expecting it. It's actually quite soft, but it has a bit more of a fried taste to it. And definitely you can taste the cinnamon in this one, I think. The cinnamon is much stronger, whereas the other one was a bit more like an almond. These are nice little sweet treats. Shebekia is good, been eaten. Very nice. Welcome. Shukran. You can see he's got such a massive pile of the briwats and shebekia. They're really quite popular here in Morocco, especially in Fez. You can see right next to him, there's another guy that's selling them down certain streets. You can find them, even people are pushing them on carts. So they're a perfect sweet little treat to have when you're walking around the Medina. Really boost up that sugar. These are really good, so I think we're gonna have to get some. So the nice thing is that the briwats and shebekia are just by weight, so you can get as much or as little as you like. Thank you so much. Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you so much. Have a nice day. You too. Take care. This Medina's so big, and there's parts that are covered and some that are uncovered. So the covered areas are definitely nice to walk around in to shade away from the hot sun during the day. So what we have here is the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, and these grow on the ends of the prickly pear cactus, and they're super popular in Morocco. We've seen them all around with many people just rolling up with hearts full of them. We've never tried this before, so let's give it a try. They're quite light, actually. It looks like a kiwi. Super juicy. The seeds in there are really hard. It's almost like a pomegranate seed, how you bite into it, and it doesn't really break when you kind of chew down on it. They're a little bit sweet. Reminds me of a honeydew melon, actually. These are super tasty. Right by one of the gates into the Medina and by the prickly pear man, we actually found something that we've been wanting to try as well. It's called laib, and it's a yogurt drink. So let's give it a try. Is this laib? Laib? It's a little bit chewy. Try it. So this is laib, and it's a fermented milk drink that's super popular in Morocco. Look how thick it is. I mean, the cup is tipped over and then nothing's coming out. And you can either get it with sugar or not sugar, so we got it with sugar. Wow, look. It is really thick like yogurt, you can see. Smells good. Ooh, super creamy and milky tasting. Even though it's fermented, it's almost not sour at all. And honestly, it just tastes like a really thick milk with a bit of sugar, so just plain yogurt almost tasting. Really, really creamy though. Wow. Benin. Very good, thank you. This is super tasty. After eating the top layer, you can see it gets a little bit more liquidy too. You can almost just drink it. That's good, right? Some of the little alleys here in the Medina are so thin and small. They're like two feet across. Look at that. You could barely fit two people into it. The buildings are almost closing in on themselves. It's crazy. So interesting, so old, so much history. We're here now at a restaurant that's a little out of the ordinary here in Fez. It's an authentic Chinese restaurant that do a dish that's very unique. It's traditionally Chinese with a Moroccan twist. Camel dumplings. Come on, let's go. Look at this plate of dumplings. This is huge. So these unique dumplings we have here are made with camel meat, and the camel meat was bought fresh from the Medina this morning, which is the case with a lot of restaurants within the Medina. There's lots of butchers and everything where they get their fresh meat from. These dumplings are huge. Look at the size of them. Look at that guy. Steaming hot. I can't wait to dive in. It's packed, and there's so much juice in there. It's almost like a broth. And you can see from the spices, it's quite orange almost in color. There's a lot of flavor. The meat is very tender. You can taste a bit of the crunch from the onion as well. Camel meat itself, it's not a super strong flavor. It's almost kind of somewhere, to be honest, between lamb or beef. It has just a bit more flavor than beef, but not quite as strong as something like lamb. This is tasty. You can also taste the ginger in there. This is so unique. I've never had a dumpling like this before. This is incredible. This is so tasty. We've got two sauces to go with our dumplings as well. It looks like a garlic soy sauce, and it has maybe sesame oil, as well as a very spicy looking sauce too. So I'm gonna try this one first. Some of that garlic. Look at that. It's really nice with that sauce. It gives it more of that Asian flavor to it, I think. Having the soy sauce there. Garlic's nice and strong. Complements the camel and the spices so well. This looks pretty spicy. I'm just gonna... Let's see how this goes. This looks spicy. Oh, that has got a kick to it. Oh my gosh. At first, you can't really taste it. Like it's a little bit spicy, but that is spicy. That is a spicy sauce. That's dangerous. Really good though. Look at that. You can see just how juicy and flavorful the meat is with all the herbs and everything in there. These dumps are packed. Honestly though, they're so good. They're so flavorful, juicy, so much spice to it. Yeah, it's the fresh meat. You can really tell I find the camel, right? And with our sauce, garlic sauce and the spicy sauce. This one's really good. That one is spicy. It's a fantastic comeback. Yeah, it's got a kick to it for sure. They are Benin, ho-ho-sik. Ho-ho-sik? Yeah, yeah, ho-ho-sik. It's very delicious. Good. It's good to taste. These are incredible. Wow, how unique. The ultimate saucy bite. Oh yeah. So this is Jason. He's the owner of the restaurant here and this is the only Chinese restaurant in the old Medina of Fez. It's got a great location right by the Blue Gate. So if you're in the mood for some Chinese food, authentic and especially unique, like the camel dumplings that we had, then you have to come here and pay Jason a visit. Thank you so much. They were so good. Ho-ho-sik, Benin. Ho-ho-sik, yeah? Thank you. Good number there. Thank you. As-salamu alaykum. Wa alaykum as-salam. That smells good. Something that's super plentiful here in Morocco are their fruit juices and there's none better and more refreshing than the orange juice, fresh orange juice. You see it all over Morocco. And this glass looks great. You put in about four or five oranges there, you can see. Smells so good. That is fresh orange juice, wow. So refreshing on this hot day here in Morocco. The perfect little drink to cool us down. Vitamin C too. Good nutrients, good to keep us hydrated and good for the bones and muscles. Each area of the Medina has its own specialty and behind me here is a nougat alley. So I think we should try some. What do you think? Let's go. You're welcome. You wanna try? Yes? You're welcome. Nougat is famous in France? Yes. Mm-hmm. And this is traditional here. All visitors come to France take like gifts from France. Ah, okay, like a gift home, the nougat. Look at this white one. I think this one, peanut? Yes. Peanut? Ooh. Nice and chewy, sweet. Kind of creamy as well. Fennel, very tasty. Very nice, mm. Almond? Black one. Black one? Moroccan Snickers. Looks like a Snickers, yeah. This is one almond. It's got a little peanut attached to that one too. Quite soft. Look at that. That looks better than a Snickers. Ooh, mm. Ooh, almond is very nice. Fennel, mm, that almond is good. I think we'll have to get some. Those are so good. I'm gonna need to eat these later as well. 10? 10, 10 and 20 for these different ones. I like the ones with the boba. Shukran. You're welcome. Shukran. Thank you again. Got our nice nougat to have later. This is gonna be so tasty. And it's really cool that there's so many different places here you can get nougat from. And all the different areas of the Medina, they have different specialties like electronics, some of them shoes, clothes, copperware, a little bit of everything. So it's so fun to explore the Medina and see what little gems you can find. Let's take this nougat. We're gonna finish off our day at Fondue Bazaar to try a very traditional and popular dish here in Vest, pastilla. But we're gonna have it in a very unique way. Come on. So we're here in the kitchen of the Fondue Bazaar to watch the making of pastilla. Now, pastilla is a traditional Moroccan dish that's usually made with pigeon, but nowadays they use chicken instead of the pigeon. But today we're gonna have it in a very unique way with a duck confit filling. We're here with Arif and the chef Yunus, and he's gonna show us how to prepare this special dish. Thank you for having us here. Thank you so much. So many fresh ingredients here, from the filo pastry to the mashed potatoes and the parsley and the mushrooms, to, of course, the duck. So the duck confit is very fatty, right? Yeah. Very, very fatty. It's all in very good consistency, you know, when it becomes consistency of it. So we try to cut it into very little tiny pieces. Right. It helps us when we put it on the oven so it can, like, absorb. Absorb all the fat and the rich taste. Absolutely. Oh, this is gonna be so tasty. So traditionally it's made with pigeon in the old days, but do they still make it with pigeon these days? Yeah, but sometimes we can, you can, like, use the chicken as well. It works, you know? Okay. It's really tasty. But it's our, you know, restaurant, I think the first restaurant that make the duck. With the duck, yeah, with duck pastilla. We want to be quite different. Yeah, different and unique. Absolutely. Yeah, that's why we're here, for a very unique experience. The filo pastry is called a worka? Yeah. Worka pastry? Yes, it's made with flour and water, and we have a special oven how we make this flat. Oh, okay. So we always make sure that the bread is very thick in consistency before we stuff in it. And the name of it is worka? Yeah, worka. Worka. Worka is our big term, which means paper. Yes. Ah, very interesting. It's pretty much a filo dough. Paper thin. So refrigerator for about an hour, and then they take it out and put it into the oven. Yeah. Ah, perfect. Well, can't wait. The fresh pastilla from the fridge, now we put it here. After one hour, we're gonna deep fry it. Crispy and crunchy deep fried. It's beautiful. Juin. Juin bizarre. Yeah, very beautiful. Thank you for letting us here to watch the presentation. It has been amazing. Having you here, thank you so much. Shukran bizarre. Thank you. You're welcome. Let's get to eating. We're here on the rooftop terrace of Fondue Bizarre, and it is beautiful up here. The scenery is amazing. There's so much greenery and open air here. And under the canopy, it's nice and shaded away from the sun. So this is the perfect setting to eat this delicious duck confit pastilla. And it's really cool because it's cooked twice. First they deep fry it, and then they finish it off in the oven. This is gonna be delicious. Well, you can see it is so crispy, being deep fried and cooked in the oven. This looks and smells incredible. Let's just take a look on the inside of this. Wow, look at that. Just absolutely packed and spewing with the duck and onion mix and the mushrooms. Oh, and it smells incredible. Oh my gosh, that duck smell is amazing. Oh my gosh, wow. The duck is so rich. It's the first thing I taste, and it's definitely the best flavor of the whole pastilla, holy moly. It's nice and crunchy with the filo dough, but the inside is I think the star of this dish. With the mashed potatoes and the duck itself, it's such a nice contrast between soft, crunchy with the filo dough, and the nice juiciness of the duck. This is amazing, holy. Oh my gosh. And just so much duck in this, just jam-packed with the duck. And let's get a taste with the delicious carrot puree to go along with it. Look at that orange color of that, wow. Oh, that mashed carrot puree adds a nice sweetness to the duck pastilla. Along with the onions, it gives it such a nice sweet flavor to it. That is a good combo with the puree there. So this is a more fusion take on the traditional pastilla being made with the duck confit. And the traditional pastilla is actually a sweet and salty mixture of flavors. So I can see why they use the carrot puree, the carrot mash here, because it does add that sweet and salty, savory texture and flavor to the dish. That is a perfect combo. Benin, oh, Benin Bazaar. Very delicious. Gotta get a bite of this apricot, lettuce, and roasted chives balsamic side dish of a salad. Those are crunchy chives. Yeah, oh. The crispy chives, that's a really nice addition to that salad. Balsamic dressing, nice and sweet, but very light. Like Arab was telling us downstairs in the kitchen, they're the only ones here in Fez that make it with duck confit. So this is truly something special to come and taste here at this restaurant. And you always gotta have your pastilla, ultimate bite. Benin, Benin Unes, thank you. Oh, so delicious. Shukran, thank you so much, Chef Unes and Arab. Thank you for letting us into your kitchen. Such amazing hospitality here at Fondue Bazaar. If you're ever in Fez, definitely come and pay these guys a visit and eat some traditional Moroccan cuisine with a little bit of a unique twist. Shukran, thank you so much. Thank you so much. So amazing. So you're welcome. All right, everyone, that does it for our Fez food tour today. The food has been delicious. Thanks so much for watching. If you enjoyed the video, give it a like, give it a thumbs up, hit the bell icon below to get notified when we post a new video, and make sure you subscribe to our channel to join us on all of our food adventures. We're hungry to travel, and we'll see you next meal. It's really tight here.