Homecooked Moroccan fare in Somerville

Moroccan Hospitality lives up to its name.

Moroccan roast chicken with onions, tomatoes, and raisins
The Somerville restaurant offers a warm, simple setting.

 

585 Somerville Avenue
Somerville, MA
(617) 623-0020 

At the rightly named Moroccan Hospitality, sisters Nouzha Ghalley and Amina Ghalley McTursh make almost everything from scratch. Traditional chicken bastilla ($5.99) is served as an appetizer, but the bundling of tastes—from cinnamon, crushed almonds, and eggs to a splash of rose water—is bold. The buttery phyllo-wrapped beef “cigars” ($3.99) hold flecks of onion, orange peel, and cilantro. Tenderly fried potato cakes ($3.99) are laced with garlic; use caution spooning on the creamy hot chili paste (harissa). For entrées, try the chicken tfaya ($13.50), roast poultry on the bone topped with a sweet and spicy mélange of caramelized onions and raisins; or a range of tagines (stews, slow-cooked in clay pots). The lamb stew has green olives and honey, while potatoes, carrots, peas, artichokes, and onions pack the vegetable version ($11.99), spiked with preserved lemon. Piles of feathery couscous with golden raisins come on the side. Last year the restaurant migrated from its original storefront in Malden to Somerville. The new environs are a healthy walk from Cambridge’s Porter Square, and offer welcome refinements: orange- and crimson-colored walls, banquettes with soft pillows, white tablecloths, and candlelight.

Related topics

You might also like

Eating for the Holidays, the Planet, and Your Heart

“Sustainable eating,” and healthy recipes you can prepare for the holidays.

Best Bars for Seasonal Drinks and Snacks in Greater Boston

Gathering spots that warm and delight us  

Sustainability on the Menu

Harvard’s sustainable meals program aims to support local farms, protect oceans, and limit waste.

Most popular

Summers Will Retire as Harvard Professor

The former University president is stepping down in the wake of Harvard’s Epstein probe.

The True Cost of Grade Inflation at Harvard

How an abundance of A’s created “the most stressed-out world of all.”

What Trump Means for John Roberts’s Legacy

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

Explore More From Current Issue

Older man in a green sweater holds a postcard in a warmly decorated office.

How a Harvard Hockey Legend Became a Needlepoint Artist

Joe Bertagna’s retirement project recreates figures from Boston sports history.