What to eat in Kairouan
Makroud, a semolina pastry filled with dates, traces back to Kairouan itself, and alongside it the medina serves the same dishes as the rest of the country — just first tried here.
- Makroud
- Traces back to Kairouan
- Brik
- €1.50–3 per portion
- Couscous
- €5.50–9 per portion
Kairouan is held to be the birthplace of makroud, a semolina pastry filled with date paste and fried or glazed with honey — the medina's pastry shops sell it by the box, rarely by the piece. For a proper meal, the medina serves what the rest of the country does: brik, couscous, ojja and lablabi, all at menu prices.
The sweet that started here
Semolina dough is filled with date paste, cut into lozenges and fried or glazed with honey. It's sold at pastry shops along the medina's main street, usually by the box of a kilogram or two rather than the piece — sharing one box is enough for a taste.
Lablabi and brik
Lablabi, a chickpea soup with stale bread, cumin and a harissa drizzle, runs €3–4.50 and is eaten at a table or taken away. Brik, a thin pastry sheet with an egg fried inside, €1.50–3, is the faster option before the visit continues.
For a full meal: couscous and ojja
Couscous with lamb or fish, €5.50–9, is the standard Friday and Sunday lunch but is served in the medina every day. Ojja, eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce with merguez or tuna, €4.50–7.50, arrives in the pan it was cooked in. Mloukhia, a jute-leaf stew with beef, is also found in the medina, but without a reliable per-portion price for this city.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Where does makroud come from?
Kairouan. The date-filled semolina pastry is sold by the box at the medina's pastry shops, rarely by the piece.
How much does a full meal cost in Kairouan?
Couscous with lamb or fish runs €5.50–9, ojja €4.50–7.50.
Ready for Kairouan?
Where to next
The best time to visit Kairouan
→A continental inland climate with no sea to soften the heat, and a Friday that shortens all three main…
Sousse · 51 km
→A charter town with a 9th-century medina on the World Heritage list, and El Jem, Kairouan and Monastir up to an hour and a half away — the one place on the coast where a holiday and sightseeing fit into the same week
How well does Kairouan suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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