The owner of Darna, a successful Jerusalem restaurateur who came to Israel from Morocco as a youth, decided to create a fabulous, authentic Moroccan restaurant after he revisited North Africa in the early 1990s and was dazzled by the beauty of his onetime homeland. Moroccan designers and craftsmen were brought to Jerusalem to create just the right setting, and top chefs were imported to supervise the intricacies of classic Moroccan cuisine prepared within the bounds of kashrut. The result is a memorable place that delights the eye and the taste buds without being hokey or touristy.
The dechicha (spiced barley soup) and the mezze of Moroccan salads are wonderful and very reasonably priced, as is the pastilla, a sweet phyllo pie usually made of pigeon, but done here with Cornish hen. These courses alone would make a fine light dinner, but the baked lamb with almonds, the couscous dishes, and the tagines (lamb or chicken cooked with dried fruits or vegetables in covered clay pots) are also first quality, as is the unusual stuffed sea bass and the Safi-style sea bream.
Service is in a graceful Moroccan style, and carefully chosen background music seems to echo the medinas of Fez and Marrakech. For two people, soups, the mezze and one main course or one set menu plus a main course could be more than adequate. This glatt kosher restaurant is one of the best dining experiences in Israel.