The Moroccan restaurateur Kamal Laftimi, 53, grew up on the edges of Jemaa el-Fna, the main public square of Marrakesh and an entrance to the city’s historic medina quarter. All day, and late into the night, travelers, musicians and local families wander through its cafes, souvenir shops and food stalls, against a soundtrack of hawkers’ shouts and the calls to prayer from the nearby Koutoubia Mosque. “The square is always changing,” said Laftimi recently in the leafy courtyard of his latest restaurant, the Pétanque Social Club, located outside of the medina’s ancient walls, in the upscale neighborhood of Gueliz. “You [go there] in the early morning and then a few hours later, it’s got a whole different atmosphere.”
Laftimi’s projects, which are scattered across the city, have always involved designing and curating lively meeting places. It’s as if he’s continuously recreating small versions of the Jemaa el-Fna he knew as a child — one where exciting, unpredictable encounters are the norm. At the first restaurant he opened, the Café des Épices, the tables spill out into a small, bustling spice market, less than a 10-minute walk from the square; from the restaurant’s earliest days, in the mid-aughts, it was “a place where people spontaneously began chatting and exchanging ideas,” Laftimi said. “We still have some of the original customers from that time.” Almost 20 years later, he continues to create dynamic culinary hubs. The Pétanque Social Club is the latest project through which he hopes to foster an expansive creative community.
The new restaurant is named for its original incarnation as a 1930s club where French colonists played pétanque — although by the time Laftimi started frequenting it back in his 20s, it was a decrepit but cool place to drink beers with friends. It’s one of the few gathering spots left in the rapidly developing neighborhood that still has a large courtyard garden, and Laftimi had been trying to buy it for years. “All the other buyers wanted to tear this down and build high-rise apartments,” he said. “I wanted to preserve it.” After finally acquiring the property in 2019, he spent the next four years restoring the vast courtyard and its attached 2,000-square-foot building — which now consists of four dining areas, a bar and an open kitchen. Today, the PSC, as it’s often called, is concealed behind a worn wooden door set within a wall of illuminated, amber-colored glass bricks that faces the Boulevard El Mansour Eddahbi. Until now, Laftimi had resisted putting up a sign, and the place had remained a secret among a small group of Marrakesh locals. But he’s ready to open the doors fully. “Originally I had considered making this a private club, but I never want to be exclusive,” Laftimi said. “I made this as a hangout for the city’s creatives.”
On a cool fall evening, Laftimi welcomed friends to the PSC ahead of its official public opening at the end of this month. The dinner was one of the first celebratory events that many of the guests — all based in Marrakesh — had been to since the devastating earthquake that hit Morocco in early September. The city had suffered some damage, but it had survived and repaired itself, and a sense of gratitude suffused the evening. “Everyone came together to help, from all over Morocco,” said Laftimi, who continues to support some of the victims in the Atlas Mountains. Now, Laftimi said, he’s more driven than ever to cultivate a strong and enduring community — in the creative industries where he finds inspiration and in the city that he calls home.
The attendees: For the dinner Laftimi invited some key players and friends from Marrakesh’s cultural scene, among them Yiman Erraziki, the 28-year-old head of artistic programming at the Comptoir des Mines Galerie, which is just around the corner from the Pétanque Social Club and was one of the first galleries in the country to feature Moroccan artists almost exclusively; Tiberio Lobo-Navia, 40, the co-founder of the handwoven rug company Beni Rugs; the collector Fatima Zohra Bennani Bennis, 63, who in 2019 launched the artist-led venue Marrakech Contemporary Collection (a.ka. MCC Gallery); Philomena Schurer Merckoll, 40, the owner of the guesthouse Riad Mena (and a contributing editor for this publication); and the artists Amine El Gotaibi, 40, and Yasmina Alaoui, 46.
The food: The restaurant’s Swedish chef, Carl Goldberg, 30, riffed on Mediterranean dishes, with an eye toward the centuries-long influence that North Africa has had on southern European cuisine. Everything was meant to be shared, including Goldberg’s homemade sourdough and the appetizers that followed: burrata with tomatoes, citrus and spiced oil; cumin-roasted carrots with hummus and honey; and a red mullet crudo topped with thinly sliced fennel and doused in a chile vinaigrette. For the entrees, guests enjoyed Provençal-inspired lamb; calamari stuffed with capers and raisins and served on top of creamy squid ink risotto; and a vegetarian dish of roasted pumpkin and stewed chickpeas, topped with labneh, which Goldberg described as a “deconstructed tagine with rich Southern Italian flavors.” Around 11 p.m., the desserts were served: plates of homemade chocolate truffles, sorbet and a poached pear with frangipane tart.
The drinks: Before dinner, guests sipped on Sahara Spritzes, a Moroccan take on the Campari Spritz that is the color of a sunset; the star ingredient is saffron. Dinner was served with local red and white Le Petit Clos wines produced in the Domaine Ouled Thaleb — “one of the regions that put Moroccan wine on the map in the ’90s,” said Laftimi.
The music: Maya Bewick-Turnbull, a London- and Marrakesh-based D.J. and a friend and consultant of Laftimi’s, curated an eclectic mix of contemporary favorites, including “Giscard d’Estaing” by the French singer and producer Dombrance, “Incapable” by the Irish electronic musician Róisín Murphy and “People” by the Detroit-based techno artist Moodymann, as well as some classics: “Golden Years” by David Bowie and “Fly Away / Walking in the Sunshine” by the Danish electronic duo Laid Back.
The décor: The Ibiza-based designers Diego Alonso and Alexeja Pozzoni of the studio AD Diego & Alexeja developed the concept for the PSC’s décor, using discarded materials and furniture and commissioning local artisans to build many of the objects. For the private dining room, Laftimi asked the up-and-coming Marrakesh-based artist Yassine Balbzioui to paint the walls in his signature, graffiti-esque style. The result is a theatrical interior, within which each room has its own distinct look. After dinner, before midnight, some guests settled by the fireplace in the lounge while others chatted at the 1920s-inspired, waist-high marble-topped bar.
The conversation: There was much discussion of the Marrakesh edition of the annual 1-54 contemporary art fair, its founder Touria El Glaoui’s role in helping to build an African-centered art scene and the works that both El Gotaibi and Alaoui will be presenting during the upcoming edition of the fair in February. One of El Gotaibi’s textile pieces will be exhibited at the Beni Rugs atelier, and he mentioned that collaborating with the women weavers at the Beni Rugs workshop was one of his most rewarding recent projects.
An entertaining tip: As a host, Laftimi prefers to be a discreet presence and a careful observer: “I’m listening. All the time. I listen to friends I trust and to guests that pass through — to their ideas and to their criticism. That’s how I know what works, and what doesn’t,” he said. Laughing, he added, “And the rest I leave up to chance and good food.”
