The Garden Brasserie

The square, flaky griddle bread, folded and folded again and crisped to order; butter melts into it and mountain honey runs over.

The thousand-hole pancake, cooked on one side only so that it drinks everything in: a warm bath of honey and melted butter.

Peppers and tomatoes cooked down slowly in olive oil and paprika, two eggs poached in the pan, grilled merguez: it arrives bubbling, with matlouâ bread to mop it up.

The chef’s signature

Leavened semolina bread baked on the clay tajine and still warm; fresh jben, Kabylie olives and a saucer of oil for dipping.

Peppers and tomatoes charred over high flame, peeled and chopped by knife with garlic and olive oil; a little tuna, a boiled egg, olives. The smoky taste of every summer.

The bourek of every Algiers table: minced meat with onion and parsley, an egg melting into the filling, a golden, crackling dioul leaf.

The red soup of cracked green wheat, lamb, coriander and celery; a squeeze of lemon, and it is the smell of every home at the hour of iftar.

The chickpea flan of the streets of Oran, baked to a golden crust and dusted with cumin; a spoon of harissa on the side, for the brave.

Slices of Mitidja oranges, wrinkled black olives, a sweet onion, cumin and cinnamon, a few drops of orange blossom: sweet and salt answering each other.

The Friday family couscous, rolled by hand, steamed three times and buttered with smen; seven vegetables, melting lamb, the red broth poured at the table. You share, you go back for more.

Served on FridayThe chef’s signature

Large hand-rolled semolina pearls cooked in a thick red broth with squash, broad beans, peas and a piece of lamb: the dish that warms rainy evenings.

In season: November – March

Beef meatballs with parsley and cumin, simmered in a garlicky tomato sauce, an egg setting at the last moment. There will be mopping up.

The spring tajine: fresh peas, artichoke hearts, lamb and coriander in a white sauce, bound with a beaten egg. It smells of April.

In season: January – May

The Algiers dish above all others: meatballs perfumed with a generous dose of garlic, with lamb and chickpeas in a red paprika sauce. Nobody leaves it indifferent.

As on the harbour on a summer day: whole sardines grilled over embers with cumin and lemon, and a tomato salad with onion and parsley.

In season: May – October

Half a farm chicken roasted golden, a sauce of saffron, preserved lemon and green olives, and potatoes that have soaked up every drop.

Couscous without meat or butter, rolled in olive oil: squash, broad beans, artichoke, chickpeas and raisins in a ras-el-hanout broth.

The sweet dish of the first night of Ramadan: lamb cooked slowly in a light cinnamon and orange-blossom syrup, plump prunes, golden almonds and sesame.

During Ramadan only

The neighbourhood pâtisserie’s upturned custard, trembling, scented with vanilla and orange blossom, in its amber caramel.

This morning’s market fruit cut by hand, orange juice, a few drops of honey and orange blossom, mint from the garden.