all pretenders beware as there is now a place where you can eat authentic Moroccan food in the 'jing.
I heard about this place opening from some friends of mine and decided to investigate. Rumors were indeed right for once and the place did exist, hidden on xin yuan lu a little further west from the Capital Mansion. I dragged a bunch of folks there last friday (14) for a little test drive:

Location:
easy to find if you don't follow the address listed on the expat magazines. take xin yuan lu going west (leaving kunlun hotel and capital mansion behind you)
once you get past capital mansion, look to your left for the sign that reads MORO (red and green). It's across the street from the new Palestinian butcher.

the restaurant:
It's small. there are 2 sections to it and can seat about 30 people at the most. it's tastefully decorated and quite comfortable.

The food:
The place is still not officially open and they mainly do set meals at the moment. I'm not sure how the prices will be once the whole thing is settled nor am I sure about what will be on the menu.
Since i called ahead, I had arranged for them to prepare a whole bunch of salads , 4 main dishes and the customary mint tea.

- roasted pepper salad: pretty darn amazing..and this is coming from someone that does not like salads.
- zaalouk (aubergine salad): we asked for extra because it was good. I myself make a mean one but theirs was good
- other salads: decent little tomato/onion/cucumber salad

we also had a some genuine moroccan olives and a few spanish tapas.

Main Dishes:

Lemon Tagine: slow cooked in a traditional Moroccan tagine (claypot that looks like a tent). easily the best dish of the evening. the chicken melted in the mouth, the sauce was delightful and the olives+preserved lemons made it taste just like the ones i'd expect in Morocco

Sweet lamb+dried fruit tagine: also slow cooked, this dish in my opnion was amazing.. I loved dipping bread in the sauce. some folks around the table mentioned that it lacked a bit of meat but that is how it is cooked in Morocco... it's more about the sauce and the vegetables

Traditional beef couscous: This was the bomb.. the best couscous i've had in beijing (outside of my own house 8-) ) ..bar none.

Mint tea: lacked mint in my opinion but nevertheless, it wasn't lipton

Wine:
we drank every bottle they had in the house including a low end moroccan red and another algerian red. then the rest were primitivo, pinotage etc...

Staff:
the owner is a character.. been around the field for a while and has gone around the block a few times... not to mention can cook a decent meal.

Price:

dinner for 13 people including all that food, unlimited bread, 6 bottles of wine came up to less than 150 per person which seemed more than correct in my opinion.

I'm definitely going back more than once...