Inception in Tangier: Mamounia Palace, the Mombasa café
You are sipping mint tea on our terrace, in the heart of the medina of Tangier. What few of our visitors know is that they are sitting on the very spot where, in the summer of 2009, Christopher Nolan's crew set up their cameras for one of the most iconic films of the 21st century: Inception.
Here is the story, long kept quiet, of the day Hollywood chose Mamounia Palace.
Inception, a masterpiece shot around the world
Released in 2010, Christopher Nolan's Inception became an instant classic: a dizzying thriller about infiltrating dreams, carried by Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb. The film was shot in six countries — Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States… and Morocco.
To bring Mombasa to life — the Kenyan city where Cobb goes to recruit his forger — Nolan did not film in Kenya. He chose Tangier. The labyrinthine alleys of the medina, their colours and atmosphere, stood in perfectly for the African coastal city. It is here, in our lanes, that the famous foot chase of the Mombasa sequence was filmed.
“Oliver's Arrow”: the secret shoot of summer 2009
If the name Inception meant nothing to anyone in Tangier in 2009, that is entirely normal: the film was not yet called Inception.
True to his obsession with secrecy, Christopher Nolan shot his scenes under a false title — a cover name meant to keep DiCaprio's presence from drawing crowds. That code name was “Oliver's Arrow”.
It was under this discreet identity that the production took over the medina of Tangier in the summer of 2009 — and booked our house for several weeks to prepare and film its scenes.
Mamounia Palace, the film's “Mombasa Coffee House”
In our archives, a production location scouting document dated 25 June 2009 carries an unmistakable line:
The scouting covers the exterior — the façade and the terrace opening onto the street. But the interior of the house also appears on screen: the counter, the wooden shutters, the filtered light falling across the tables. Tom Hardy appears there as Eames, and Leonardo DiCaprio settles in before the scene turns.
In other words: our establishment was chosen as the Mombasa café, the place where Cobb sits down before being spotted and launching into the famous chase through the souk. The terrace and façade of Mamounia Palace, exactly as you find them today, became a Hollywood film set for a few days.
A piece of the medina of Tangier — ours — thus appears, transformed into Mombasa, in a film seen by millions of viewers around the world.
The Mombasa café today
The shoot has moved on, but the place has not changed its soul. Founded in 1960, in the heart of the medina, Mamounia Palace continues to welcome travellers, Tangerines and lovers of Moroccan culture in the authentic setting of a historic house.
Coming to lunch or dine with us means tasting traditional cuisine — pastilla, tagines, couscous, homemade pastries — in the very setting that captivated one of the greatest filmmakers of our time. It means sitting where cinema met Tangier, and leaving with a story to tell.
Come and sit at the “Mombasa café”
The next time you watch Inception, remember: that medina is ours. And the table where you take your tea may well be the one from Christopher Nolan's set.