Paris (AFP)

"We would like this restaurant to be both a place of discovery of Afghan cuisine and meeting refugees." The Kabul Kitchen, an Afghan restaurant run by two refugees and a French woman, opened in Paris on the eve of World Refugee Day.

Tuesday 19H00. This is the shot in this small restaurant 25 tables open for lunch and dinner just a few steps from the district of Les Halles, and Shayan Mohammadi chained orders in a near perfect French. "Here we cook the kabuli, the most festive dish in Afghanistan," said the 21-year-old Afghan.

On the menu then, this dish cooked with rice, raisins, carrots and spicy sauce, to which can be added chicken or meatballs called kofté, but also spinach-style bolanis or sandwiches. rice.

Arrived in Paris in March 2017 after spending two years in Sweden without being able to obtain a visa, Shayan quickly obtained asylum in France. Papers in hand, he was able to work 9 months in a ready-to-wear store, before embarking on the project of Kabul Kitchen with Fatima.

"It is an accomplishment to open my restaurant in France: I am going to make discover the culture of my country to those who welcomed me and especially to show a beautiful image of the refugees", says Shayan, apron and black shirt. For this musician, cooking, which he did not do when he was still living in Afghanistan or Pakistan, because "reserved for women", is "a strong link" with his country.

Since the morning, his compatriot Ali Mohmmad Hussaini is active in cooking to prepare the dishes of the day: preparation of eggplant, coral lentils, chicken ... The remains are distributed to people in the street.

- "A dream" -

After a chaotic journey, balanced between Norway, Afghanistan, Calais and Belgium, Ali, 35, found help in Paris thanks to Fatima and was able to join the project as a cook, "a dream that he would not have imagined a few months ago. "

Of Algerian origin, Fatima was interested in the cause of migrants at the death of his father: "at the end of his life, he told me about his arrival in France in 1962 where he was greatly helped by a person in Tours, it was the first time he spoke to me about it, I took it as a subliminal message. "

So as early as 2015, Fatima took her time to help East Station migrants. It was in this camp that she met Reshad Nikzad, a 29-year-old Afghan artist who had to flee her country as a TV presenter. It was "thanks to him" that she met Shayan and Ali, with whom she started the Kabul Kitchen project.

As a symbol, it is Reshad who designed the logo and decorated the front of the restaurant: Kabul Kitchen, written in French and Afghan.

At a table in the sun, Dany Shatter, a 70-year-old employee who works in the neighborhood, says she is "conquered by the concept and touched by the story of these young men."

"I hope that the dishes will be as good as those of my mother," smiles meanwhile Maxime a customer of Afghan origin, who is delighted with the opening of a restaurant offering the cuisine of his country.

? 2019 AFP