Submitted by Gastrofork
Special to the Post

Moltaqa (“a place where people gather”) serves up Moroccan cuisine in a beautiful, ornate space.

We ordered a Vegetable Pastilla, Chicken Merguez Couscous Lunch Plate, Lamb Apricot Tagine and the Cumin Lamb and Roasted vegetable sandwich.

Our first dish was the Vegetable Pastilla, which comes in limited amounts, so I was intrigued to try it. The pastilla has carrots, onions, olives that are baked in a phyllo pastry and sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

The Lamb Shank Apricot Tagine is served with a side of seasoned couscous. Inside the tagine, you’ll find a portion of lamb and root vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash. The flavour from the sauce is not too overpowering but complements and masks the lamb a little. The lamb is tender and comes off the bone easily. It’s a good portion to share.

You might want to order some extra couscous.

Next dish is the Chicken Merguez Couscous Lunch Plate (you can get this with lamb instead). It comes with two Halal sausages and is served on a bed of couscous and root veggies. It had a lot of flavour in its sauce and was enough to cover the couscous. There’s enough here to share as well.

The Cumin Lamb and Roasted vegetable sandwich is served with marinated cucumber and tomatoes on the side. The sandwich is in a crisp but soft on the inside bread. There’s a lot of flavour to unpack here – from the seasoned vegetables inside, feta, sauce and olives. The cumin lamb are spread in chunks in the sandwich. I found the lamb a bit on the dry side.

Overall, I enjoyed the flavours here at Moltaqa. I’d definitely come back again.

Moltaqa

51 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC

Food: ****/2

Service: ****/2

Value: ***/2

Ambiance: ****/2

OVERALL: ****

Gastrofork is a Vancouver based food and travel blog. Gastrofork has been featured in Eat In Eat Out Magazine, is one of the top blogs on urbanspoon and named Top 100 Blogs to Follow in 2013. Read more reviews at gastrofork.ca