Through a Moorish archway and inside a warmly lit, colorfully adorned main dining room, groups of families and friends are seated on embroidered cushions at knee-level round tables. A server dressed in soft linen clothes with a vest passes around small towels while prompting diners to place their hands over a metal basin. “Are you familiar with our hand-washing ceremony?” the server asks, pouring a kettle of warmed rose water over palms and fingers to commence the evening. “See your hands? Those are your utensils,” he says.

There are many places in Los Angeles to enjoy an impromptu solo dinner or order casual takeout, but for all the right reasons, Moun of Tunis is not one of them.

For almost 50 years, this restaurant has kept the traditions and cuisines of Tunisia and Morocco alive in Los Angeles, including intricate hand-washing ceremonies, extravagant banquets, and live belly dancing performances. Located on a stretch in Hollywood where legendary landmarks and tourist gimmicks compete for diners’ attention, Moun of Tunis is an institution holding its own with disarming sincerity. The restaurant opened in 1977, but the current menu, interior, and energy date back to 1990 when the restaurant’s former busser, Ben Mahmoud, purchased the business. Mahmoud originally came to Los Angeles from Tunisia in 1984 for graduate school but forged a path in restaurants instead.

In many ways, Mahmoud had a lifetime of training: He watched his mother cook for a 13-person household daily and tagged along as his father managed restaurants and small businesses in Tunisia, many of which he worked in from a young age. In buying Moun of Tunis, Mahmoud finally found a way to celebrate the specificity and vibrancy of Tunisian art and culture in the United States. His mastery of fine details across food, ambience, and hospitality has made more than three decades of hard work appear effortless.

Tunisia is the northernmost country in North Africa, and the cuisines of both Tunisia and Morocco have crossover with many regions and cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. After the hand-washing ceremony, diners choose from one of eight prix fixe menus. Each consists of four to six courses and ranges in price from $30 to $45 per person. The namesake Moun of Tunis Feast is ideal for first-timers as it includes many signature dishes, including rose water carrots and garlicky vegetable dips, tea, dessert, and the national dishes of Tunisia and Morocco: brik and b’stilla. The multi-course feast of fragrant vegetables, fall-off-the-bone lamb, and savory phyllo pastries arrives in portions fit for a large crowd.

The brik is distinctly Tunisian and consists of a crispy half-moon of fried phyllo dough stuffed with potato, parsley, capers, onion, and egg. (In Tunisia, it is traditionally stuffed with tuna as well). It requires two hands to eat and is served with lemon wedges and fiery, house-made harissa. The egg yolk at the brik’s center is sometimes runny, sometimes cooked through. The b’stilla arrives midway through dinner — a phyllo pie stuffed with shredded chicken and topped with a dusting of powdered sugar and cinnamon. It is the restaurant’s most popular dish for its sweet and savory interplay.

Other courses might include vegetable couscous, preserved lemon chicken, slow-cooked lamb with artichoke, or poached salmon. (For non-meat eaters, there is an option for a fully vegetarian feast.) To drink is a rotating menu of imported wines and beers from around the world, although notably none from Tunisia, as they are difficult to import, says Mahmoud. Popular choices include pours from Morocco and Lebanon.

Multicultural influences are reflected not only in the food at Moun of Tunis, but also in the decorative hamsa hands, tapestries, rugs, and artwork that Mahmoud collected from his world travels. In addition to the main dining room, the restaurant also holds multiple private dining spaces that can accommodate around a dozen diners each.

Though traditionally the feast is meant to be shared and eaten by hand, Mahmoud leaves silverware and shared plates on tables as an option. And while his food is made to be eaten immediately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mahmoud made certain compromises over what he says are traditional tenets of Tunisian dining. He had never considered offering takeout before then, but doing so in 2020 helped the restaurant persevere.

On weekends (and occasional weeknights), background music lowers mid-feast while the sound of percussive hand chimes fills the room. These instruments — or zills — are ornamentations of a belly dancer, who enters through the archway, capturing eyes from all corners of the dining room. Donning a shimmery costume, the dancer makes impressive, articulated movements as she swishes chiffon-like shawl wings through the air and moves around the room. As her zills ring, guests clap along and smile, taking a break from their meals and conversations. A child or a woman in her 80s might dance along, an unofficial celebration of the strength and beauty of bodies of any size, age, gender, or ability.

“Belly dancing is an art. I work very hard to save this kind of image,” says Mahmoud.

The evening ends with a modest bite of either almond cake or baklava, which is accompanied by fresh mint tea poured into glass cups from a theatrical height by servers. It is a final touch that leaves an impression.

Dining at Moun of Tunis is extraordinary not only because there are so few North African restaurants in LA or because it has been around for nearly 50 years. “The food is an art and the kitchen is a science,” says Mahmoud.

Moun of Tunis is located at 7445 ½ Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90046, and is open daily from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.