Asilah Lounge

In Worcester for a meeting, our rural pub meal booked for Friday night was cancelled because of the winter flooding thereabouts, so we wandered into town in search of alternative sustenance and quickly came across the Asilah Lounge, recently opened at the junction of Broad Street, Deansway and Bridge Street. It’s only been open for a couple of months, and it’s ideally placed for maximum visibility on the main through routes — indeed I first spotted it whilst sitting in the car waiting for traffic lights to change.
The idea of a Moroccan Tapas bar intrigued us enough to wander in as it wasn’t too busy despite being a Friday night, and we were warmly welcomed and offered a choice of seating either in the bar area or the more spacious restaurant part. As there was a large table set up in the restaurant part, foretelling noisy company ahead, we opted for a quieter high table in the bar area.
The menu was an interesting Spanish/​Moroccan fusion mix, with a good selection of tapas and paellas nestling alongside more traditional tagines; added almost as an afterthought I noticed a couple of enchiladas and burritos variants too. Plenty of choice for discerning palates then.
We both opted for the seafood paella, and a starter of bread with harissa, olive oil and olive tapenade was soon forthcoming to whet our appetites, along with an Estrella beer for me. The harissa was a bit tame by what I’m used to, but the bread was tasty enough.
The paella when it arrived was OK but not particularly outstanding; I thought the portion size could have been a bit larger, although that may have been because we both had the same and it came down to the size of the pan.
For dessert we had Moroccan almond cigars, which were three absolutely delicious filo pastry rolls with sticky syrup and almonds — yum!
The service was a little relaxed, but the manageress had explained that they were training a younger waitress that evening, so that’s absolutely fine. I actually quite enjoyed the laid-​back chatty attitude of the staff, but if I’d been in a hurry to get to the cinema or something it might have been a different outcome.
I hope they do well, it’s an interesting fusion cuisine and it was a nice surprise finding this in Worcester.