The sign, written in both Arabic and Chinese and hoisted above a yellow shopfront in Baghdad's popular Karrada neighborhood, is hard to miss: "Chinese Restaurant."
A young woman wearing skin-tight jeans, her hair blowing in the slight breeze, is sweeping the entrance.
"Welcome!" she says with a thick accent.
PHOTO: AFP
Yan returns inside and joins the three others involved in the venture -- her husband Tsao, who owns the restaurant, Lo and Wo, all of whom are Chinese. Tsao attends to customers, Lo and Wo do the cooking and Yan handles the cleaning.
Tsao, who has been in Baghdad for two years, is the veteran of the team.
"I used to work in a store that sold Chinese products," says the smiling patron in his 40s who, like the others, declined to give more than his first name.
Caught up in the violence that swept Baghdad, the shop closed its doors.
Out of work, Tsao returned to Yunnan Province, where he persuaded his wife and two friends to join him in his unlikely Iraqi dream.
They opened their new business just a week ago.
"This is the only Chinese restaurant in Baghdad," boasts Tsao in the few Arabic words he knows.
The furnishings are simple -- plastic tables and chairs, with small Chinese red paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Posters on the pink walls show film stars Jackie Chan (
The cooking is done on a small raised platform in front of customers, who can either eat in or order a takeaway.
Wo, a black woollen hat on his head, prepares dumplings and spinach on a gas cooker. The chef expertly dips a fritter in a pan of sizzling oil.
The dishes of the day are displayed along a plastic rack on cheap crockery.
On the menu: "Dumplings, fried chicken legs, Chinese breads and sweet pepper and chicken salad," Tsao says.
Under the rack, two bowls of salad are arranged beside a pile of dried sardines. On a stool is the inevitable rice pressure-cooker.
Cooking pots are piled up in the corners between mounds of plates, cleaning cloths and boxes of paper napkins.
Wearing sneakers with built-up heels, Yan washes the dishes in an imposing art deco washbasin that stands out amid the scruffy decor.
"The menu is limited for the moment but it will improve," Tsao says reassuringly. "Like security in Baghdad, it will get better."
In Karrada, the historic heart and most lively sector of the Iraqi capital, the last Asian restaurant closed its doors two years ago when the country began to descend into chaos.
Karrada is one of Baghdad's most liberal neighborhoods, but the presence of foreigners still causes amazement among its residents, many of whom have witnessed murderous attacks by militants.
"Bombs? I have already seen many," Tsao says with a big smile. "But one does not think about it. That prevents us from becoming afraid."
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