As a food writer for numerous newspapers and magazines as well as several books for Phaidon, I wanted to create the kind of place I could go to cook. I love hotels, but prefer the sense of being at home, ideally with a large, comfortable kitchen where I can potter around discovering local ingredients and with any luck gather a party of friends for lunch or dinner.

I have been at Dar Namir since the very beginning. Now, as well as running the house, I teach my own classically Moroccan dishes and host home-style dinner parties. I grew up in the Fez medina and because my mother passed away when I was very young, I took over the family cooking at an early age. I love sharing traditional Moroccan techniques for preparing vegetables, pulses, tagines, and pastries.

From art school dropout to cooking in Michelin-starred kitchens, Ian has over 30 years of culinary experience. He’s worked with some of the world’s biggest names, including catering for Madonna and Beyoncé, and has run two successful restaurants in Brixton and in Edinburgh. After spending time as a tour chef and cooking on yachts in the south of France, he moved to Fez and is now happily exploring the evolution traditional Moroccan dishes. These days, his passion is about sharing knowledge, drawing from a deep love of food history and the stories behind what we eat. Expect bold, seasonal flavours and a generous helping of inspiration from Aegean, Ottoman, Balkan and Mediterranean cuisines.