Im very sad that this place is in Marseille and im all the way in Paris. Very few meals in my life…read morecause me such joy and euphoria.
Well worth the 20 minute walk from our hotel. Ghomrassen gave me a wonderful first time experience with the Art o Couscous. After walking around Marseille all day during Spring Break, we sound this place on Yelp and were attracted by the great reviews it had. My god the food was good.
As I have come to realize these past months, vacation is a time when I forget my limits and eat like crazy. Especially when I have a good feeling about a particular establishment. I find myself ordering to or three courses at times. This is one of such occasions.
Regardless of the weird looks I typically get, I ordered to plates the first time I ate at Ghomrassen. Most of the time while im in countries abroad, the waiter will ask me once or twice to verify my order because they think they might have misunderstood me. But no. I do plan on eating all of that.
The first plate I ordered was the Couscous de mouton. For 6€ you get a big bowl of Couscous along with a very generous chunk of mutton and a bowl of their delicious sauce. From the moment I took my first bite, I knew that I had acquired a life long love. The meat was cooked to perfection and the sauce complimented the the meat so well. And the couscous. It was just amazing.
The second plate I ordered was the Brochette d'Agneau. For 7.50€ it comes with fries and a salad. I was very satisfied with this plate but not in love with it like the first one. It was delicious, dont get me wrong. But I felt like I had cheated myself by ordering something with fries and a salade at such a magnificent Turkish restaurant. The brochettes of lamp were very good and tender. The fries were well done and the salade was good too.
This place was so good that I took advantage of an opportunity to go again the next day.
This time I took advantage of what I knew would be the last opportunity I would have to eat there for a long long time.
I ordered the Couscous Royale. One of the more pricey things on the menu, but still cheap by french restaurant standards. For 12€ the Couscous royale is a giant bowl of couscous, a plate with big helpings of 5 different kinds or meat and a bowl of the house couscous sauce. It was fantastic. The owner took notice to the plate I ordered and came by to our table to ask us about where we were from and how we liked the food. We were lucky enough to get the complimentary tea at the end that some of the other reviews mention. After living in paris for 7 months, going to a restaurant and getting such a good quality of service left me in consumer bliss.
It was an amazing dining experience. Im glad I ate there not once but twice during my short vacation in Marseille. Ill be back one day and when I arrive ill be making my way down for some serious feelings of nostalgia over a nice bowl of couscous.