Do Moroccan restaurants have menus in English?

The honest answer depends entirely on where you are. In the places tourists actually spend most of their time — the medina restaurants of Marrakech and Fes, the riads, the cafés around the main squares, the seafood spots in Essaouira, the blue lanes of Chefchaouen — English menus are genuinely common. Anywhere that sees a steady flow of international visitors has worked out that an English menu (often photo-illustrated) sells more food, so you'll frequently find menus printed in three or even four languages: Arabic, French, English and sometimes Spanish near the north. In those spots, language is simply not a barrier to ordering dinner.

Step away from the tourist arteries, though, and the lingua franca of menus becomes French. Morocco was a French protectorate, French remains the language of business, education and much of daily commercial life, and a huge proportion of menus — especially in cities like Casablanca and Rabat that are less about tourism — are written in French, frequently alongside Arabic. So in a neighbourhood brasserie or a workaday lunch spot, you're far more likely to be handed a French menu than an English one. A little café-French goes a long way here: 'poulet' (chicken), 'agneau' (lamb), 'poisson' (fish), 'légumes' (vegetables) will get you a long way.

At the most local end — the grill where taxi drivers eat, a tiny couscous joint, a roadside tagine stop on a mountain road — there may be no printed menu at all, in any language. What's cooking is what's cooking, often visibly: pots on display, skewers ready for the brazier, the day's catch on ice. This is where I tell travellers to relax and embrace pointing. Gesture at what looks good, hold up fingers for quantity, and you'll be fed wonderfully. Some of the best meals I've ever steered people toward had zero written words involved.

Practically, I'd do three things. Download an offline translation app with a camera function — point it at an Arabic or French menu and it'll render it instantly, which is genuinely magic in a tucked-away place. Learn maybe ten food words in French before you come; it transforms your confidence and earns warm smiles. And don't over-worry: Moroccans in hospitality are used to visitors and are endlessly patient — staff will happily explain a dish, mime it, or walk you to the kitchen to show you. The menu language has never once stopped a guest of mine from eating brilliantly.