Noujoum at Izza

Overview

High above the Medina, Noujoum is the rooftop restaurant of Izza, the boutique art hotel built from a cluster of interlinked riads and hung with more than 300 contemporary and digital works. The name nods to the former home of designer Bill Willis, whose spirit runs through the décor, and the setting is the draw: gardened terraces opening over the rooftops of the old city, intimate and green, a long way in feeling from the lanes below. Now open to non-residents, it lets you wander the art on the way up. The kitchen cooks Moroccan with a European hand, a seasonal menu of small plates and sharing dishes built on local produce and low waste. Expect things like a lobster taco, seared scallops, a lamb shank tagine cooked kleftiko style and baked aubergine caponata, the familiar Moroccan repertoire loosened and lightened. Head chef Ahmad El Hardoum runs the kitchen on seasonal menus devised with British consultant chef Paul Weaver. It works for a long lunch in the sun or a dinner under the stars, the pace unhurried either way. It draws a design-minded crowd staying in or near the Medina, the kind who want refined cooking and a view without the formality of a hotel dining room. A rooftop to settle into rather than pass through, art at your back and the city spread out in front.