By local food and wine writer, Bon Vivant 

The dreamy picture of rural France is not complete without a small, local restaurant serving excellent food to appreciative customers, visitors nodding and smiling at each delicious mouthful while locals sip Pastis at the bar.

Unfortunately this scene is increasingly hard to come across. Yes, the local restaurants are there and the French still eat out as a matter of course, but the Americanisation of the French youth is cause for concern when the largest queues are for burger chains rather than the local brasserie.

How pleasing and heart warming it is therefore to find a small restaurant in Canterbury that is small, inexpensive and welcoming. Although the cooking isn’t French, somewhere between Spanish and Moroccan in fact, the owner is, and Xavier, monsieur le patron is there himself more often than not to welcome you at Cafe Mauresque.

Hidden a tiny cobbled street called Butchery Lane, adjacent to the Cathedral precincts, this restaurant occupies three floors.

The feeling is that of a Moroccan restaurant in the very south of France, from the very attractively decorated cellar restaurant, to the small ground floor cafe, right down to the tables and chairs outside which are a favourite with visitors on a warm day.

There is something about the style and ambience of Cafe Mauresque which is just right, but style is one thing and if the food doesn’t come up to scratch, the whole effort is rather pointless. I am happy to report that on the five occasions that I have visited this buzzing little restaurant, the food has been stunning.

The humble falafel, usually a dry affair, was the first thing that made me sit up and take notice. The outside was crispy, the contents fluffy and delicately spiced. These crunchy, fluffy sensations are accompanied by a yoghurt dip, flavoured with harissa which provides welcome heat to proceedings.

A char-grilled squid and chorizo brochette is an unmissable item on their menu. A lot of thought has been put into the sourcing of the chorizo and partnered with tender and well seasoned squid, the combination results in the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

Hummus and Tabouleh are excellent and a cut above the omnipresent supermarket versions, but the real fireworks come out in the form of Cafe Mauresque’s homemade merguez sausages. These are intense, hot and spicy affairs which even though they might make you reach for the fire extinguisher to put out the fire in your mouth, they startle and sparkle with flavour and make you reach out for another, and another......

Xavier is justly proud of his Roast Pork Belly, Membrillo with a Fino Sherry Sauce while the Lamb Shank with Aubergines, Dates, Ras El Hanout and Ginger is also a natural choice.

One criticism might be that the juices, in which the shank swims, need to be separated from some of their fat and perhaps reduced a little. The lamb itself though was beautifully cooked.

Prices are reasonable with starters at under £5 and main courses around £15. The set menu at £11 for two courses is astonishing value. The wine list has been carefully chosen by Xavier to partner his food. As such it is full of unusual names and the owner is more than enthusiastic in his recommendations of what particular wine partners which dish.

Cafe Mauresque is relentlessly informal and yet you feel looked after and the food raises the level of the restaurant beyond your expectations. That in itself is quite an achievement. Restaurants like this deserve to flourish, I urge you to go there.
 

Cafe Mauresque, 8 Butchery Lane, Canterbury, Kent . CT1 23R tel. 01227 464300

© Hawkinge Gazette and Channel Coast News 20100