To Afghanistan, via Cricklewood Broadway

Zeytoon’s family team

Zeytoon

Although it has generated many column inches, Afghanistan has rarely been associated with Kilburn, a suburb of north-west London better known for its large Irish population.

But the improbable Afghan connection is growing. Last year, Kilburn’s Tricycle Theatre staged an epic, nine-hour examination of the country, The Great Game, which enthralled Londoners and is now playing in New York. And now Kilburn also boasts Zeytoon, a restaurant that specialises in Afghan and Persian dishes.

The story of how it evolved is typical of the humble origins of many suburban restaurants – and how important families are in establishing them.

Zeytoon, which has just celebrated its second birthday, is run by Farhad Shirzad and his wife Roya, who named the restaurant after the Farsi word for olives – a favourite food of their young daughter. Farhad first came to London to work for his father-in-law, Merza Nawrozzadeh (whom he respectfully refers to as Mr Merza), in the latter’s carpet business, until he finally succumbed to his dream of opening a restaurant.

Although I did not know it at the time, I had encountered Mr Merza’s gentle, bearded face the first time we ate at Zeytoon. He was sitting in the corner by the counter, worry beads in his hands, occasionally walking to the door to see whether the cold wind blowing down Cricklewood Broadway would bring in any more customers. He brought tea at the end of our meal as well as the bill, handwritten in Farsi, a touch that is much appreciated by the increasing number of Afghans and Iranians who live nearby.

By then we had enjoyed a small proportion of a very extensive menu, including my first glass of doogh, a thin yoghurt drink mixed with herbs. Some of the first courses are common to any Middle Eastern menu (houmus, spinach mixed with yoghurt), but the best are two warm aubergine dishes – one mixed with walnuts, the other considerably spicier and topped with curd cheese. Of equal billing was the crisp naan bread fresh from the tandoor, or clay oven.

While Afghanistan and Iran are adjacent to one another and share a similar climate, there is a conspicuous culinary divide. Stews of lamb with dried limes and split peas, and chicken with pomegranates and walnuts epitomised the (spicier) Afghan approach; skewers of lamb fillet and minced lamb the Iranian. Mounds of steamed rice came with both, incongruously accompanied by the best saffron (currently £3,000 a kilo, Farhad assured me) and small packs of butter – in Afghanistan, rice cannot be served without it.

My questions for Farhad and Roya on my return to Zeytoon had to wait until their obvious enthusiasm for what they have created had abated. Roya declared that she was so nervous before the opening that she couldn’t sleep, and that her nerves had only dissipated with the first party booking (from an Iraqi Christian woman, for a party of 80).

Farhad’s pride in the place – with its brick arches and antique carpets – is obvious. But his investment so far, of £200,000, has spurred an even more ambitious dream. “One day I would like something much, much bigger with a large garden area,” he explained.

How, I asked, does his restaurant – which for religious reasons does not serve alcohol – manage to prosper? Farhad smiled and asked me to follow him into the kitchen. The back door led on to a car park, via which the kitchen had just delivered lunch for 100 to a nearby Iranian retirement home. “We also do an awful lot of outside catering and this more than makes up for the absence of alcohol sales,” he said. “During the first 10 days of the holy month of Muharram, we can cater for 1,000 to 4,000 meals a night.”

The six broad-shouldered male chefs, the two vast vats of rice and the thick, hefty skewers of chicken and lamb marinating in the fridges provided visual support for Farhad’s response to my next question: whether there was a specific reason I had not seen any women working in the restaurant. “This style of cooking is simply too physically demanding for female chefs,” he said. “And in the restaurant I do employ waitresses when we have large parties of women.”

Next to Zeytoon is the Broadway Bagel Bakery. As I left I asked Farhad how he got on with his neighbour. “It’s owned by Isaac, a Jew, and we get on very, very well,” he responded, with another smile.

nicholas.lander@ft.com

More columns at www.ft.com/lander

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Zeytoon, 94-96 Cricklewood Broadway, London NW2 020 8830 7434 www.zeytoon.co.uk