Asia's best kept secret…

As one of my co-workers and I walked home on Friday  after work we took a wrong turn trying to avoid the traffic headed towards Keelung, and, as often happens, it turned out to be a serendipitous detour. We had intended to eat dinner at Swenson’s (I can’t tell you anything about it because we never made it there). Instead, we saw a brightly lit store front with exotic lettering: Tajin, Moroccan Cuisine. It looked intriguing (and for some reason I thought it might be something close to mediterranean food) so with visions of lentil soup and tabbouleh, we went in. The walls are painted bright white with niches holding colorful Morrocan cookware: tiny jewel-colored glasses encased in silver with ornate silver lids, and ornate traditional tagines (or tajin).

Moroccan Tea Glasses

who wouldn't love a meal made in one of these?

There were only two other groups of diners so we had our choice of tables. I was surprised when the ladies bringing us water and menus didn’t look Taiwanese!

The menu looks appealing although there were only a few vegetarian options – and all had onion or garlic listed as an ingredient (not good options for me). After the waitress went to ask for the chef’s recommendation, he came out and I explained my dietary needs. He graciously offered to leave the onion out of the veggie tagine and suggested an eggplant appetizer.

who knew eggplant could taste this good?

Both were simple dishes, served with fluffy pita-like (not sure if that is really pita) bread, warm out of the oven.

Pita and Veggie Tagine

The Moroccan mint tea and almond rice pudding were unusual and delicious.

A colorful ending to a delicious meal

On the way out, the chef was outside, chatting with some Frenchmen and I asked if he’d consider adding hummus or baklava to his menu and he said “This is a north African cuisine, not Mediterranean.” – oops! Despite my geographical culinary gaffe, this is definitely a place I’ll visit again!