Friday, January 05, 2007

Marrakesh - Moroccan Lounge & Bar, Clark Quay


This was a nice looking place which I've passed by on a couple of occasions but have never stepped into until now. Marrakesh is run by the management that owns the Harry's Bars and it is located right beside The Tent at Clark Quay. I was quite impressed with how the interior was decorated. Some effort had apparently been made for that Middle Eastern feel bar. I thought it was nice alternative spot to chill. They even had music in this place (some form of Indian-ish/middle eastern modern ambient/chillout) which was also not intrusive.


What I liked about Marrakesh were the cloistered corners which the establishment seemed to be filled with. Although it wasn't a lot of space, it might be comfortable room for 5-6 persons cloaked in semi-privacy.

That's pretty much where the beauty of this place ended. The food and drinks were a general gamut of grills, breads and vegetable stuff which you can expect from Middle Eastern themed places. Having eaten at Banoo, I can attest at the better quality and variety at the latter. Most of the food here looked like more elaborate bar snacks which I guess was the point. Being able to smoke in this place meant that it's probably a bar license they've gotten, not a restaurant.

This mixed grill platter I had at $28 came as they described with beef kebab, shish taouk, shish kebab, lamb kebab with dolma, hummus and Arabic salad. What arrived was an array of grilled and spiced meat on sticks drenched in some tomato based gravy. I'm fairly sure there's coriander in there somewhere, but in this instance, it was faint enough for me to disregard. The portions weren't large, so a platter feeds one hungry person. Their mojito was quite disappointing. While the drink was good with the lime and mint, it had barely any detectable trace of rum. Serving drinks with excessive crushed ice and not enough alcohol is unfortunately lousy but common bar practice around.

If you're not really looking for great food it's a good place to chill and hang with friends.

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