Le Dhow Rabat: Boat Restaurant, Founders, Burgers

Le Dhow Rabat is a 47-metre wooden dhow, built in Kerala, India, and moored on the Rabat bank of the Bou Regreg at the foot of the Kasbah of the Udayas. Brothers Yves and Gilles Macé founded it, and it opened on 18 October 2012. Since 2019 its kitchen has been run by Executive Chef Abdelghaffar “Abdou” Bougrine. It is a seafood-led restaurant, bar and club, not a burger specialist. Its Deck snack menu still lists four burgers at 80 to 110 MAD (July 2026 menu), and no burger counter in town can match the view: you eat facing the walls of the Kasbah.

Le Dhow Rabat at a glance: key facts

Le Dhow is a floating restaurant on Quai de Bouregreg, Avenue Al Marsa, in Rabat, open daily from late morning until 2 a.m., and until 4 a.m. at weekends. Online listings get several basic facts wrong. Some even credit the kitchen to a chef named Hicham Halim, but the restaurant’s own site, Visit Rabat and the local press never connect him to the boat. The table gives the version confirmed by the official history page and the Visit Rabat tourism board.

Fact	Verified answer	What some listings say
Opening date	18 October 2012	2010
Length	47 m (contracted at 44 m), about 10 m wide	30 m
Original purpose	Designed as a restaurant and entertainment boat for Dubai Creek	A former cargo ship
Where it was built	A yard on an island at the mouth of the Chaliyar river, facing Beypore, Kerala, India	—
Bank of the river	Rabat side, below the Kasbah of the Udayas	Salé side
Founders	Yves Macé, with his brother Gilles	Hicham Halim
Executive chef	Abdelghaffar “Abdou” Bougrine, since 2019	—

Le Dhow Rabat key facts, checked against what some listings say: opened 18 October 2012 (not 2010), 47 m long and about 10 m wide (not 30 m), built in Kerala as a restaurant boat (not a former cargo ship), on the Rabat bank (not Salé). Checked 30 October 2026. (Table: Burger Breton, original work, CC BY 4.0, data from ledhow.com, Visit Rabat and the Barceló travel guide (checked 2026-10-30))

Sources: Le Dhow, history of the boat, Barceló travel guide for the 47 × 10 m dimensions, and Visit Rabat for the address. All checked on 30 October 2026.

Who founded Le Dhow? The Macé brothers’ story

Le Dhow was founded by entrepreneur Yves Macé, who started the project with his brother Gilles. According to the restaurant’s history page, the idea came to him “one August evening in 2007 on a catamaran in the bay of Cancún, Mexico”.

The boat was not meant for Morocco at first. It was conceived as a restaurant and entertainment boat for Dubai Creek. That alone disproves a story several travel aggregators repeat: Le Dhow is not a converted cargo ship. It was built from the start to host diners.

The official site names Yves and Gilles Macé as founders but gives no current titles. I could not confirm who manages the business day to day in 2026, so I am not stating it here.

Built in Kerala, shipped through Suez

Le Dhow was built by hand in India over about two and a half years. Work started in 2008 at a yard on a roughly 4-hectare island at the mouth of the Chaliyar river, facing Beypore in Kerala, a coast with a long tradition of wooden dhow building. The hull was contracted at 44 metres. It came out at 47.

A wooden dhow hull on blocks at a boatyard in Beypore, Kerala, the boatbuilding coast where Le Dhow was built from 2008. This is an illustrative photo from 1988 and does not show Le Dhow. (Photo: Ziegler175, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BeyporeDau1.jpg (3280×2170, loading lazy))

The boat was launched in April 2011. The cargo ship BELUGA SHANGHAI then carried it through the Suez Canal and on via Gibraltar and Algeciras, and it entered the Bou Regreg channel at 1 a.m. The arrival date is not published. It falls somewhere between the April 2011 launch and the October 2012 opening.

Interior design and the 2012 opening

Artist and decorator Philippe Luciani redesigned the interior in late 2011, with an architect and designer the official site names only as Sabine. Le Dhow opened on 18 October 2012, and the restaurant terrace was rebuilt in April 2021.

Le Dhow timeline: the idea in Cancún in August 2007, construction in Kerala from 2008, launch in April 2011, shipping via Suez and Algeciras, interior design in late 2011, opening in Rabat on 18 October 2012, chef Bougrine from 2019 and the new terrace in April 2021. (Chart: Burger Breton, original work, CC BY 4.0, data from ledhow.com history and construction pages (checked 2026-10-30). Horizontal timeline on desktop, stacked on mobile; TO GENERATE, no sourced file exists)

Who is the chef at Le Dhow Rabat?

The executive chef of Le Dhow is Abdelghaffar “Abdou” Bougrine, who took over the kitchen in 2019. He grew up in Fez, trained at a hotel school, then under a French chef in Marrakesh.

His path runs through some of Morocco’s best-known kitchens. He apprenticed at the Michelin-starred restaurant of the Pourcel brothers in Montpellier, France. He then cooked at Kenzi Menara Palace in Marrakesh, Michlifen in Ifrane and La Sultana in Marrakesh and Oualidia. His style pairs Moroccan spices with French technique, with a focus on seafood (official chef page).

Before him, from February 2018, Georges Vallone was Director of Food Service and Patrick Richard was chef. Bougrine took over the kitchen in 2019.

Le Dhow serves Moroccan-Mediterranean food in which seafood makes up about 70% of the menu, alongside international and Moroccan dishes. Pizzas, burgers, pasta and tapas sit on the separate Deck snack menu. On the main restaurant menu, a burger appears only in the junior menu, served with fresh fries.

Visit Rabat calls the cuisine Moroccan-Mediterranean fusion. My reading of the menus is simpler: you come here for the fish and the view, and the burger is the casual fallback on deck.

Burgers at Le Dhow: prices in MAD (July 2026)

A burger at Le Dhow costs between 80 and 110 Moroccan dirhams on the Deck menu dated July 2026. Here are the four burgers it lists, taken from the official Deck menu, checked on 30 October 2026.

Burger	What’s in it	Price
Chicken Burger	Sesame bun, minced chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, cocktail sauce, fresh fries	80 MAD
Le Classic	Sesame bun, minced beef, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, cocktail sauce, fresh fries	100 MAD
Cheeseburger	Le Classic with cheese, fresh fries	110 MAD
Burger au saumon	Black bun, smoked salmon, rocket, pickles, capers, egg	100 MAD

Le Dhow Deck menu burgers, July 2026: Chicken Burger 80 MAD (about US$8), Le Classic 100 MAD, smoked salmon burger on a black bun 100 MAD and Cheeseburger 110 MAD. Fries come with three of the four. (Table: Burger Breton, original work, CC BY 4.0, data from the official Le Dhow Deck menu, July 2026 (checked 2026-10-30))

My pick, on paper, is the smoked salmon burger. On a boat where seven dishes in ten come from the sea, a black bun with capers and egg fits the kitchen better than a beef patty. It is also the only one of the four listed without fries. The menu gives no patty weight for Le Classic, no cheese type and no beef origin, so I can’t hold it up against Rabat’s burger counters on those points.

The Burger des Oudayas: a squid-ink fish burger from the past

Le Dhow’s most original burger was the Burger des Oudayas, on the February 2018 menu. It came on a squid-ink bun with a fried whiting fillet, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, and cocktail and tartare sauces, for 85 MAD. The same menu had an American Burger with a 150 g minced steak patty, also at 85 MAD (2018 menu page).

Burger prices at Le Dhow Rabat in Moroccan dirhams: 80 to 110 MAD on the July 2026 Deck menu, compared with 85 MAD for the Burger des Oudayas and the American Burger on the February 2018 menu. (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from the Le Dhow Deck menu (July 2026) and ledhow.com/carte-restaurant-rabat (2018), rendered with QuickChart (1600×900). Localize labels per locale and host locally)

The Burger des Oudayas is not on the July 2026 Deck menu, and I think that is a loss: it was the one burger on board that looked as if it belonged on a boat named after a river kasbah. I could not read the July 2026 La Cale menu, so ask the staff before you go looking for it.

The spaces on board: Deck, Roof and La Cale

Le Dhow has five spaces across its decks, from a breakfast terrace to a nightclub in the hold. Here is how they break down, according to the official spaces page:

The Deck: main deck, 150 m², 100 seats and a DJ booth. This is where the burgers are served.
The Captain’s Room and terrace: up to 30 guests, with a 3.4 m oval captain’s table that seats 14.
The upper-deck restaurant: 150 m², up to 150 covers, with a 360° terrace.
The Roof: 100 m², glazed, for 60 guests.
La Cale: the club in the hold, 100 seated or 200 standing.

Capacity of the five spaces on board Le Dhow: La Cale club 200 standing (100 seated), upper-deck restaurant 150 covers, the Deck 100 seats, the Roof 60 guests and the Captain’s Room 30 guests. (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from ledhow.com/restaurant-rabat-quai-bouregreg (checked 2026-10-30), rendered with QuickChart (1600×900). Localize labels per locale and host locally. A cross-section diagram of the decks still needs to be generated)

Le Dhow opening hours and practical information

Le Dhow opens Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 a.m., according to Visit Rabat. The official site gives slightly different times for each space: the Deck opens at 10:30 a.m. for breakfast and coffee, turns into a lounge with live music from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., and La Cale runs from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Address: Quai de Bouregreg – Avenue Al Marsa, 10000 Rabat, Morocco, at the foot of the Kasbah of the Udayas
Phone: +212 5 37 70 23 02
WhatsApp: +212 6 19 32 59 69
Email: reservation@ledhow.com
Status: open (menus dated July 2026, active on Visit Rabat, checked 30 October 2026)

The two sources differ by half an hour in the morning, so send a WhatsApp message to confirm hours before a breakfast visit or a late night at La Cale.

Map of Le Dhow on Quai de Bouregreg, Avenue Al Marsa, 10000 Rabat, on the Rabat bank of the Bou Regreg just upstream of the Kasbah of the Udayas. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0; geocoding via Nominatim; address from Visit Rabat and ledhow.com (iframe embed 800×450, needs a local static poster image))

Is Le Dhow worth it for a burger?

Le Dhow is worth it for the setting, not as Rabat’s best burger. You eat on a hand-built Kerala dhow facing the walls of the Kasbah of the Udayas, and no burger counter in Agdal or Hay Riad offers that. The price has crept up, though. In 2018 the American Burger came with a stated 150 g patty for 85 MAD. Le Classic now costs 100 MAD and the menu no longer gives the weight. Part of what you pay for is the deck.

Fishing boats on the Bou Regreg facing the Kasbah of the Udayas and its minaret: the riverside view diners get from the deck of Le Dhow. Illustrative photo, not taken on board Le Dhow. (Photo: MarwanAndrew, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boats\_in\_Bouregreg\_(3).jpg (3872×2592, loading lazy))

If the burger itself is what you are after, start from our Rabat burger hub, where we file every Rabat guide we publish. For a drink, a seafood dinner or a casual lunch near the Kasbah, Le Dhow is the boat to book, and h24info agrees: it lists it among the city’s most beautiful terraces.

How I put this profile together

This profile is built from documents, not from a meal on board. I worked from Le Dhow’s official history, chef, spaces and menu pages, the Visit Rabat listing and Moroccan press coverage, all checked on 30 October 2026. I give no star rating, and I do not quote TripAdvisor or Google scores because I could not retrieve them.

Le Dhow Rabat FAQ

Who owns Le Dhow in Rabat and who founded it? Le Dhow was founded by Yves Macé with his brother Gilles, according to the restaurant’s history page. The site does not give their current titles, so who runs the business today is unconfirmed.

Who is the chef at Le Dhow Rabat? The executive chef is Abdelghaffar “Abdou” Bougrine, in charge of the kitchen since 2019. He trained in Marrakesh and at the Pourcel brothers’ Michelin-starred restaurant in Montpellier. No source links a chef named Hicham Halim to Le Dhow.

Is Le Dhow a real boat, and where was it built? Yes. Le Dhow is a 47-metre wooden dhow built from 2008 at a yard on the Chaliyar river, facing Beypore in Kerala, India. It was launched in April 2011 and shipped to Morocco through the Suez Canal.

Is Le Dhow on the Rabat or the Salé side of the Bou Regreg? Le Dhow is on the Rabat side, at Quai de Bouregreg – Avenue Al Marsa, at the foot of the Kasbah of the Udayas. Listings that place it in Salé are wrong.

What are Le Dhow’s opening hours, and is La Cale open every night? Visit Rabat lists Le Dhow as open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. on weekdays and to 4 a.m. at weekends. The official site gives La Cale’s hours as 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. but does not say it opens every night, so check by WhatsApp on +212 6 19 32 59 69.

How much does a burger cost at Le Dhow? On the July 2026 Deck menu, burgers cost 80 MAD (chicken), 100 MAD (Le Classic or smoked salmon) and 110 MAD (cheeseburger).

Is the food at Le Dhow halal, and does it serve alcohol? Le Dhow serves alcohol: it has a bar, a drinks menu and a club. The current menus do not say whether the meat is halal-certified, so ask the restaurant directly.

Does Le Dhow serve ftour during Ramadan? Le Dhow has served ftour in the past: Médias24 listed it in 2017 and Morocco World News in 2018. Confirm the current year’s ftour offer with the restaurant before Ramadan.

Do you need to book a table at Le Dhow, and is there a dress code? Bookings are taken by phone on +212 5 37 70 23 02, by WhatsApp or at reservation@ledhow.com. The restaurant publishes no dress code, so ask when you book, especially for La Cale.

Where can you find the best burgers in Rabat? Rabat’s burger counters cluster in Agdal, the student district around Mohammed V University, and in Hay Riad, the business quarter to the south, rather than on the river. Our Rabat burger hub gathers every Rabat guide we publish.

More burgers in Morocco

Heading on from Rabat? Read our guides to the best burgers in Casablanca and the best burgers in Marrakesh, or browse every city in the Restaurants section.