ottawa foodies

Thanks for clarifying, sourdough! Yes, I googled Pastilla after my meal and realized that I should never order it since prominent sugar on meat grosses me out. That said, even for someone who loves that flavour combination this would have been a very bad experience.

To be fair, a dusting of icing sugar is pretty traditional with Pastilla, otherwise it would be something else ... however I'm sure the rest of the review holds up. It is not the only place in the market that manages to keep going based on one time visitors.

I generally prefer to hold back on negative reviews, thinking that poor food offerings mean a restaurant won't be around for long. But the ByWard Market is a bit of an anomaly in that even terrible restaurants can sometimes survive and even thrive due to a vigorous supply of first-time customers. So here's a rare negative review!

Wanting to try something a little different form our usual haunts, some coworkers and I opted for a Moroccan lunch. I spied an enticing looking pastry on the display case and was told it was "Pastilla -- with chicken and almonds." I like pastry, poultry, and nuts so it was an easy choice.

When the food arrived, I discovered that the dusting of white powder on top was icing sugar. Now, some people enjoy sugar with their meat but I do not! This was like eating a giant, soggy baklava with tasteless chicken inside. The sides of rice and root veggies were terribly bland and barely warm from rushed microwaving. I dumped a large amount of salt and pepper on everything to try to recover a bit of joy, but it didn't help.

Then, while later googling to see if anyone else had similar experiences, I found this: foodieprints.com

Yikes! That was almost 9 years ago. And it makes me sad when nothing has changed for the better in all that time.