La Kasbah rocks
Last night I met some friends for dinner at a relatively new Moroccan restaurant in Harrisburg called La Kasbah.
From the outside, it doesn't look like much, but everyone knows you can't judge a restaurant by it's exterior. It's several blocks north of Second Street's restaurant row, so we found parking on the street without issue.
Inside, we sat on cushioned bank seats with pillows, sipped Moroccan tea and sunk our teeth into small loaves of quite possibly the best bread I have eaten around here.
The server brought out bowls of harira, a traditional lentil-and-chickpea soup flavored with parsley and coriander. We also sampled the couscous, which I like because the texture feels cool in your mouth.
For the entree, I ordered flounder in a yummy sharmola sauce that added flavor without heat. It came with asparagus and saffron rice.
The service was attentive but not smothering, and our server gave us a plate of Moroccan cookies on the house at the end of our meal. Their light, flaky texture and mild flavor would have gone great with tea.
My bill came to less than $13.
We kept thinking the place was called "La Kabash," but as we gathered our coats to leave, the 1980s song "Rock the Casbah" came on the speakers and we realized we had read and pronounced the name wrong.
We laughed and agreed that this Kasbah definitely rocks.
sue · March 27, 2008 3:18 PM
I agree with Jen, great ethnic food at a reasonable price.
youness · March 28, 2008 11:11 AM
glad you liked Moroccan food jen,you definitely had the chance to experience a new cultural aspects, from the atmosphere, the decoration,the difference in costumer service even it tend to be more americanized,and of course the way moroccans serve the meals( tea is essential,it's a must on the moroccan table. equivalent to consummation of coffee in the us,plus it's a symbol of welcoming visitors and generosity).
thanks for sharing jen.
by the way lakasbah main name in English is the citadel, here is some more details about it.
A kasbah (Arabic: "القصبة") or Qassabah is a unique kind of medina, Islamic city, or fortress.
It was the place for the local leader to live and as a defense when the city was under attack. A kasbah has high walls which usually have no windows. Sometimes, they were built on the top of hill to make them easier to defend. Some of them were also placed near the entrance of harbors.
Having a kasbah built was a sign of wealth of some families in the city. Almost all cities had their kasbah, this building being something necessary for the city to survive. When colonization started in 1830, in northern Algeria, there were a great number of kasbahs that lasted for more than 100 years.
The word casbah has a slightly different meaning. The Spanish word alcazaba is a cognate naming the equivalent building in Andalusia or Moorish Spain.
la kasbah rocks!!