Rick’s Café

Rick's Café exists because of a film. In the 1942 classic Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart's Rick ran Rick's Café Américain, a bar that existed only on a Hollywood sound stage. Six decades later Kathy Kriger, a former American diplomat who had worked as a commercial attaché in Morocco, decided the city deserved the real thing. She restored a grand 1930 mansion built against the walls of the old medina and opened Rick's Café on 1 March 2004.

The interior was designed by the American architect and decorator Bill Willis. It is built around a central courtyard, with curved arches, a sculpted bar, balconies and balustrades, and brass lamps that throw patterned light across white walls. The heavy wooden entrance doors are modelled on those in the film, and an authentic 1930s Pleyel piano takes pride of place. It is unashamedly a recreation of a place that never existed, and it carries that off with style.

The kitchen serves international cuisine alongside Moroccan dishes, with an emphasis on fresh Atlantic seafood and grilled meats. Recent menus have included gratinated oysters with a Champagne sabayon, a bone-in ribeye with herb butter, grilled sea bass with a curry sauce and a lava cake made to order. The wine list covers Moroccan regions such as Guerrouane and Beni M'Tir as well as French estates. Lunch is served from 12:00 to 15:00 and dinner from 18:30 to 00:30. There is a bar for cocktails and an upstairs lounge, and live jazz piano is part of the evening. A resident pianist plays standards from the 1940s and 1950s, and requests for As Time Goes By are, unsurprisingly, frequent. On Sunday nights a jam session brings local and visiting musicians together for jazz improvisation, which is one of the liveliest times to come.

Rick's suits film lovers, couples and anyone who wants an evening with a sense of occasion. Reservations are strongly advised for dinner, particularly at weekends, and can be made online or through the direct booking line. The stated dress code is smart casual to elegant. If dinner is booked out, lunch is another way to see the interior.

The café is on Boulevard Sour Jdid on the edge of the old medina, facing the port, a short taxi ride from the city centre and within walking distance of Casa Port station. It fits well at the end of a day exploring the medina, or before or after a visit to the Hassan II Mosque, which is a few minutes away by taxi along the seafront.