I ♥ Breakfast: Morocco...one part Marmite and 10 parts Magic

Since I was old and stupid enough to invest every spare cent I have on travelling, I have held a mental list of top 10 of places I have to make it to come hell or high water. Morocco has managed to hold steady in the top 5 for years and so it seemed entirely the most appropriate place to escape to after 5 months of living, sleeping and breathing the London Olympics.

I'm not sure that it's the same for everyone, but as much as I had dreamed of Morocco for years, I was completely unprepared for the complete assault on your senses that is Marrakech. I found myself caught in the middle of a mad Marmite travel experience - swinging wildly between feeling an ecstatic 'Iloveithereandamgoingtobuyabookstoreandneverleave' and a traumatic 'howmanymorerightandleftturnshaveItakenanddeargodwillIevergetbacktotheRiadsafely'.

As this is Blog is about breakfast and I am a woefully crap travel writer, I'll cut a few corners and cut to the chase - one of the main reasons that my love for Morocco was ultimately requitted after an 8 day rollercoaster of ups and downs, was because of the breakfasts.

We were lucky enough to move between three wonderful Riads and in each one of them, breakfast was so much, much more than a 'rate includes' afterthought. Carefully chosen location, simple, fresh ingedients and a refusal to rush are things you come to expect and love from a Riad Breakfast. It's about as far from a Holiday Inn 'Breakfast Pig Trough' as you can get.

Marakech

Riad Enija

The Gods of Breakfast and Travel must have been watching over my Googling when I found Riad Enija. It sits in the middle of the Marrakech Medina (old city) like a glorious peacock of an oasis amongst the sweaty mayhem that is the souks and the Djemaa El Fna Square.

If you're very smart (or just lucky like I was), you'll accept the offer from the Riad to arrange an airport pickup. The trip in a 30 old year Mercedes is a fantastic treat and a good place to dust off your rubbish French. You also get escorted through the souks which is worth every dirham - getting lost with a wheely bag on your first day definitely doesn't rate as a 5 star Tripadvisor activity.

So first you need to suvive your entree to the souks. And then you arrive. At a tiny wooden door in a very shady looking alley. And just when you think shit shitety shit, the door opens and you meet Ahmed. Ahmed is the most marvellous host who along with Latifa, take care of you like royalty.

Breakfast is no exception. The first amazing thing about breakfast in Riads in general, is that you are not a slave to anyone else's clock. You simply wake up and head to the kitchen, stick your head in and say 'feed me'. Even if the skinny old cockerel on the Riad wall crowed hours ago, you will still get a smile and freshly made deliciousness.

The second remarkable thing particular to Riad Enija is that even though there are 15 rooms, if you don't actively seek out the other guests, you would never have to see anyone except Ahmed and Latifa. Riad Enija comprises 3 different beautiful buildings each with their own spectacular courtyards. And a roof terrace with a breathtaking view over Marrakech.

For breakfast and dinners, beautifully laid tables strewn with rose petals are set in private corners of the main courtyard, hidden from each other by a jungle of greenery. A cheerful fountain and some obligatory Marrakech purr-ey cats provide a breakfast soundtrack. Oh and it turns out, some shagging tortoises.

The food is simple. But wonderfully tasty. Everything is brought to the table and you can sit as long as you like. You get a choice of mint tea (really refreshing) or freshly brewed coffee. My daily highlight was the sweetest most delicious orange juice I have ever tasted. As luck would have it, next to spices and Evil Eye jewellery, freshly squeezed orange juice is one of the most popular things sold in the souks, so you can drink as much as you like every day.

Each day the line up is similar, but with its own unique twist. A basket of various warm breads, a different pastry and one of three different types of Moroccan pancakes, perfectly gooey brie and youghurt. As an add on you could order a so called Moroccan omlette - essentially a very tasty egg dish with fresh tomatos, onions, herbs and chili.

Moroccan pancakes deserve a special mention as they are really unique. There are three different types all semolina based. Beghrir - lovely soft semolina based pancakes best eaten with a buttery honey mixture; Msemen - delicious square almost savoury pan fried pancakes and a hard salty crunchy one that I couldn't find a name for. Mmmmm.

We quickly realised that feasting like a King at breakfast means you can skip straight past the Queen and lunch and comfortably survive until a Princely dinner on a Riad Breakfast.

Essaouira

Villa Maroc

After three glorious days in Marrakech, we headed East to the coast to Essaouira, the proudly weatherworn ancient port city formerly know as Mogador. On first arrival, Essaouira appears a bit shabby, but don't be deterred, it is a charming place with an interesting art culture and moreish seafood. It's also a thousand times more relaxed than Marrakech and you get hassled far less.

I wasn't as bold with my Riad choice for Essaouira and went with the most commonly and well reviewed - Villa Maroc. Villa Maroc is the Jen Aniston to Riad Enija's Angelina - not as darkly beautiful, but still lovely.

They are well known for their good food and are one of the Riad's which offer cooking courses with their chef. Being the lazyass that I am, I wasn't energetic enough to participate, but would definitely do so if I manage to squeeze in another trip to Morocco amongst the rest of the top ten destinations.

Villa Maroc breakfasts include many of the Moroccan favourites served at Enija with three differences...

#1 a yummy fresh fruit and nutty, honey yoghurt dish

#2 the coffee is served out of bowls a Les Francaise (which for some unknown reason makes coffee taste delicious to the power of 10)

#3 it's served on the roof terrace and happily, the seagulls unlike the souk traders leave you alone

As well as fantabulous breakfasts at Villa Maroc, I can highly recommend a mission to Sidi Kaoki - a wild surf spot 30 minutes South of Essaouira. I reckon if you got up early enough for an early morning surf, the surf club shack at the beach would serve a pretty damn awesome dawn patrol brekker.

While staying at Villa Maroc, we discovered that the owners had recently bought another Riad, in the countryside about 20 kilometres inland from Essaouira. It sounded interesting and we wanted to experience some different scenery so we jumped in our almostsureitwasAhmed'sfriendsactualpersonalcarandnotarental Renalt and hit the road.

Ounara

Les Jardins de Villa Maroc

After nursing the clapped out Renault up 2km of rocky road to the house, we had no idea what to expect. It turns out that not only had we hit upon a paradise, but even better, we were the only people staying there.

Les Jardins de Villa Maroc is a converted farm house with nothing around but acres of olive trees, one donkey, three cats and a wonderful manager.

We loved it so much there we decided to stay in and eat dinner . Most Riads serve dinner as well as breakfast and in fact, most guide books tell you that the best place to experience authentic Moroccan food is in the Riads.

This was completely the case for both dinner and breakfast which were both prepared by the manager using his mother's recipes. As we arrived, probably the only thunder storm of the year rolled in and we had the unique expereince of being in the middle of nowhere, in complete darkness in a storm. As rain and temperatures below 15 degrees are such a rarity, it seemed cause for celebration and a fire was lit and both our breakfast and dinner were served in the cosy lounge.

I can highly recommend a game of Backgammon before breakfast. Whipping someone's ass definitely works up a hunger.

Morocco well and truelly earned its place in my top 5 favourite places to visit and as a place for lovers of breakfast, it might even have snuck into Number 2