What to see in Casablanca: Villa des Arts

Looking for the perfect place for a romantic date? Forget all the coffee shops and snob terraces, bring your date to the Villa des Arts for an special meeting that will last in your memories: "in our first date, Mustapha took me to a museum", sounds better to me than "we went to starbucks". Villa des Arst is a heavenly place in the very center of Casablanca, and they usually have on show nice exhibitions...and barely anyone looking at them. Split in two floors, this old Art Deco house, that dates from 1934, has also a permanent cute collection, and belongs now to the ONA Foundation. The place promotes contemporary art and other purposes, if you want you can even rent it for a party in the most pure Gatsby style. The garden is specially peaceful and we miss not having a little coffee shop on the side which be truly amazing. The entry is free and makes a good stop for tourists and residents alike.

30 boulevard Brahim Roudani Rue Abou El Kacem Chabi, الدار البيضاء 20000, Marruecos

Tel:+212 22295087

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Easy Bar in Casablanca: Bar du Titan

If you're looking for the best plans in Casablanca you just found our favorite one. We've been going for a while to the Bar du Titan since we discovered, and it just gets better and better. "Decontracté", easygoing, cheap, so uncool that is cool, mixed people going there, from the usual alcoholic to pretty french girls, Bar du Titat belongs to everyone. Located in a street very close to Le Marché Central, Le Bar du Titan is the place where you should go with your real friends, just to sit down, enjoy some wine (bottle of Cuvee President 110 dhs, unbeatable!), and very very good tapas. No Chanel bags contest here. They've got probably the best patatas bravas in town...and at 18 dhs are quite a grab, quiche with real pork, marinated chicken, curry samosas, tortilla de patatas, moules al pil-pil, marinated anchovies, even the caesar salad is good. The place is quite small, about 10 little tables, and gets quite crowded from 20h00, but the good news is that you can book a table. Its the perfect place for an afterwork without bling-bling. It may sound superflous, but even the toilets are spotless, and that for some strange reason make us think that the kitchen is safe. So basically a winning place where you can have a good time without breaking your bank account. Since its very close to La Bodega, about 2 minutes walking, makes it a perfect choice to have drinks before the real fiesta loca, and because Le Bar du Titan closes at 23h00, everything fits perfectly.

26 avenue Hassan Seghir, 20000 Casablanca, Morocco

Tel.+212 5 22 31 33 15 +212 6 77 53 60 70 +212 6 68 11 92 07

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Theater in Casablanca: La Chute (The Fall)

Good plans in Casablanca thanks to the French Institute. La Chute (The Fall) is the third novel of Albert Camus, written in the shape of dramatic monologues: a stranger tell us the story of his life from success to misery in an analogy that englobes the whole human race. This was one of the favourite pieces of another existencialist, the great Sartre, and we are looking forward to see how the director Nabyl Lahlou and actress Sophia Hadi will pull this one out, since is not an easy piece.

Saturday 25 of January
20h30 in the French Institute
around 70 dhs

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Fine dining @Le 25 Casablanca

One of the best things to do in Casablanca is meet up with your friends and have a drink after a day of hard work and crazy driving. For one thing, that means that you survived one more day crossing the street in this great megalopolis. So a few days ago the team of Casamood and a bunch of our best friends went to try the new place in town, Le 25 Casablanca. The space used to host the old Maison Blanche, but we've been told that after a long legal battle to keep the name they decided to change the whole concept and review everything from the menu to the lighting. They've been listening carefully to what the customers had to say, so...did they improve? The bar is as cozy as ever, with the dim light that makes easy conversation for a couple of lovers or for a group of old friends. The black Mojito was excellent and came with a huge free selection of snacks, including mini burgers, around me there were gin and tonics, normal mojitos, selection of beers and lots of people who seemed to be as satisfied as myself. In fact the night was going so well we stayed for dinner. As an appetizer we asked for some jamon de jabugo (the best kind of Spanish raw ham) OMG it was delicious and melted in the mouth. At a price. But not even in Spain is easy to find good Jabugo in restaurants. I had the tuna tartar as starter and was beautifully served and in a generous portion, but the wine keep flooding and we like excess so I ordered a Filet de boeuf with foie-gras: it was a killer, so tender and perfectly (un) cooked. The burrata was also spectacular, and I saw a couple of steak tartar around me that looked good too. My friend ordered tagliatelle ai frutti di mare (seafood) and have to say I was greatly surprised with the quality of ingredients and the pasta served aldente, a rare thing is Morocco. I didn't want to see any dessert but one night is one night, and we had some ones that although were good, I find it hardly to describe them. So I guess I'll have to come back.

Direction: Rue Mohammed abdou، الدار البيضاء 20000, Marruecos

Telephone:+212 5222-76476

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Beautiful Modern Dance: Khatwa in the French Institute

If you're looking for the best things to do in Casablanca, once again our friends from the Institut Français are bringing us all the freshness and energy of young Moroccan artists. This Saturday 18th of January is the turn of Khatwa, a dancing show with all the beauty -and confussion- of a contemporary choreography. In this show, the Macadama Company explores the boundaries of Hip Hop in a ritual that mixes oriental and contemporary moves. Unveil the mistery this Saturday at 20h30 in the premises of the French Institute. Most likely it will not be free, but do not expect to pay more than 50dhs.

121, boulevard Zerktouni, Casablanca, Maroc
tel.+212 22779870

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New Favourite Terrace...Hotel Bellerive

Casamood keeps unfolding the secrets of Casablanca so you can enjoy the best places without the disappointment of the bad ones. This time we where searching for the perfect place to have a coffee in the sun, maybe even a light bite, and the same propositions arose: Paul Villa Zevaco, Cafe Blanca, Le Cabestan...and that's about it. So posh places, expensive prices, judgmental stares..Not what we were in the mood for. The terrace of Mc Donald's are really good, you even get a seaview but the kids and the smell of chemical food don't really go with our lifestyle. Along the Corniche there are a few, including Venezia Ice, Luigi and Gossip, but you cant really tan and we like all the vitamins the sun can give us, so we decided to try the terrace of the Hotel Bellerive, an outdated Hotel from light years ago that I'm sure could be the perfect place to rent rooms for hours with your lover if this was something admitted in Morocco. Because the decoration of the Hotel is so harmful for your eyes we entered the café by the alley on the side and what we got there...what a surprise, clean old school tables with comfy chairs and a great little view on the sea and a manicured grass like I've never seen one in Morocco. The terrace is big and airy and you can choose if you prefer to stay on the sun or under a sunshade. Not many clients even if it was a Saturday around 13h30, a few ex-pats, one Moroccan family, us and a couple of very kind and smiley waiters that probably saw the foundations of the place. There is not even a menu, just the usual: café, orange juice, mint tea...and alcohol. Alcohol? Yes alcohol on a terrace looking at the sea: beer at 40dh, bottle of wine starting at 110dhs, and God knows what else, probably even a Bacardi Cola if you ask. They also have a grill that serves very good brochettes and not bad pizzas (not really Italian, but tasty). The conclusion? We stayed for almost the rest of the day until it became cold... and we came back the next day. And if you ask me, I'm sure I will come back tomorrow with my book. A total 10 for popular chic. Please Hotel Bellerive, stay as you are, wrinkles are beautiful.

38, Boulevard de la Corniche, 20180 Casablanca, Morocco

+212 5 22 79 75 04 

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Casablanca map: the new public tram-way

Have fun exploring the city of Casablanca. Source: Robert Schwandl of Urban Rail

If you are searching for some practical information about casablanca or you are trying to see and discover the city like the locals do, give a try to the new and beautiful tram. After long and painful years of construction the tram line of Casablanca has improved the lives of many and can help you explore the city in a fun and different way. At a mere 6 dhs for a single way you will get access to clean seats and air conditioning, something not even one public taxi offers so far. With 22 milion riders in its first year, let's hope the authorities will take good care to continue improving the public transportation services in the whole country. Specially practical and handy if you arrive at Casa Voyageurs train Station, since it can take you up to the Centrical Place Mohammed V and beyond, in fact, you can even arrive to the beach in Ain Diab in case is surf is your kind of sport.

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La Brioche Dorée...the gold-plated coffee shop

La Brioche Dorée is a French chain of fast-food style bakery with more than 500 shops worldwide. This kind of self-service in Morocco only means that you get your goodies on the counter but when you leave, the tray stays on on your table with an ashtray full of cigarrettes, so the new customer has to remove other people's leftovers. The combination of allowing to smoke with good prices creates a dark cloud of smoke on the back of the premises that can match the ambiance of “Cafe Manolo” in South East Bronx on 1983. We went on a Sunday to have a Nutella crepe and a hot chocolate, the crepe was quite good and the chocolate was ok, but very light not the excellent 'Fondu' style that you get in Freres Gourmet for example, but all considered, Brioche Dorée is by far cheaper. The waiters over the counter were slow and uninspiring and gave a general feeling of I-dont-give-a-damn about your order. In a city with hundreds of coffee shops the owners should choose more carefully the image they're projecting. Still, location wise makes it a good alternative for ultra-snob Paul and darky G-Ice. The first half of the place is non smoker and has a real nice tall table facing the street to see the life go by. Variety seemed right, there was even good baguettes on sale and good looking cakes and sandwiches also. For some reason there was pizza on offer which we found quite weird, but probably the market demands it. There is another one in Maarif and antoher one in Morocco Mall. And since we really like the idea we'll definitely give it another try, see if the general service gets improved.

Bd Anfa, Casablanca, Morocco 
http://www.grouperahal.ma

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Ashokai Japanese..closest thing to all-you-can-eat

Ashokai is maybe not the best Japanese restaurant in Casablanca, nevertheless it deserves to be considered as a fun and convenient option for group dinners due to its centric location and unbeatable price. In a quiet spot of Gauthier, Ashokai looks more like a normal coffee shop than a Japanese restaurant, bright light, white sofas and apparently only 1 CD, Ashokai remains a fun place to meet up your friends and be loud. The clients are young and clean, the waiters are kind and unpretentious, and the menu options are very complete with all the classics you may want in a Japanese. They do not have alcohol license, which only means that the bill is always surprisingly low. Last time we were a group of 8 people, we ordered some menu that included more than 100 pieces and came with a tasty miso soup as a starter. The sushis were good and fresh enough, and with quite a lot of variety. We did not manage to finish them. Desserts were not Japanese at all but in any case they had the classics one may like: cheese cake, banofie pie, tiramisú, mousse de chocolat, etc the most expensive being 30 dhs. The bill arrived, including drinks, we divided by 8, the result: 140dhs each, that considering what we ate is an outstanding value. 

We have tried to order take away and was equally satisfactory if not very quick. So if you want a cheap Japanese lunch/dinner before doing a Harakiri, Ashokai may be a good option.

Rue d'Oran, Casablanca, Morocco (opposite Hotel Yto)

tel. 212 5 22 27 57 06 

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Most Useful Map of Casablanca

If you dont want to get lost in the streets of Casablanca but at the same time you are not very good reading maps dont worry, we found the solution. We found and antique map of Casablanca from the times when it used to be called Anfa in 1572 (today Anfa is just a district); equally useful for children, right-brained people and general screeming wifes on the passenger seat, with this old map of Casablanca you will fully enjoy the metropolis.

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