*I was a guest at the Moroccan Culinary Week event held by the Hyatt Hotel Canberra, however all opinions are my own.
In conjunction with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco, the Hyatt Hotel launched Moroccan Culinary Week from 3 to 12 August 2018. The Hyatt’s Promenade Cafe hosted ‘Flavours of Morocco’ buffet dinners throughout the week and we were invited to dine on the final night. There were tagines galore along one side of the dining hall.
There were chicken, lamb, beef, fish, and vegetable tagines, and I think the meatball tagine was the most popular. I found the tagines a little oily (though olive oil is a staple ingredient in Moroccan cooking) but liked how they were well-balanced dishes – the beef tagine had been carefully balanced with sweet apricots and prunes; the chicken with olives and lemon etc, along with various spices.
I was surprised to see such a variety of seafood in the cold section – crab legs, mussels, prawns, sashimi and natural oysters, which just kept getting refilled.
There were mixed salads on the other side of the cold section but with all that seafood and other more interesting items, I didn’t give the salads a second glance.
There was a charcuterie board of cured meats, alongside cheeses, crackers, pickles, nuts and dried fruit.
There was also a whole small cooked lamb that was chopped up and served during the night served with a delicious vegetable cous cous. There was plenty of lamb available with lots of leftovers at the end of the night.
One fellow was preparing trays of Moroccan mint tea which he would later serve to all diners.
Moroccan cooking demonstrations were held by guest chef Hassan M’Souli who hails from Morocco and moved to Sydney to introduce Moroccan cuisine to Australia. His three restaurants in Sydney keep him busy and his passion about Moroccan food was very evident during his demonstrations.
Dessert included Moroccan rice pudding and pastilla (this version consisted of thin layered flakey pastry sheets on top of passionfruit custard with fresh fruit).
There were also various cakes, slices, mousse, pavlova, panna cotta, fresh fruit and four types of ice cream and sorbet to try. We both loved the mango sorbet, which wasn’t too sugary and really tasted like mango, that we went back for a second scoop.
The chocolate fountain was a hit with plenty of plump strawberries or marshmallows on either side to dip into the chocolate cascade.
I think most people were so focused on the chocolate fountain, that they missed the warm chocolate chip bread and butter pudding sitting next to it. I didn’t. It was basically untouched! I loved the flakey croissant-like layers and made sure I got a scoop of vanilla ice cream to go with it.
I must admit I don’t know much about Moroccan food besides tagines but the country is on my list of places to travel to. This event was a good introduction to the flavours of the cuisine and I’m looking forward to trying more in the future (Saffron restaurant in Kingston is the only Moroccan restaurant I can find in Canberra).
The Hyatt Hotel Canberra are hoping to make Moroccan Culinary Week an annual event. Prices were $78 per person Friday and Saturday (full buffet option), and $58 per person Sunday to Thursday (less variety than the Friday and Saturday buffet options).
Thanks to Hyatt Hotel Canberra for having us!
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