Dining Out on Chinese in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Jan 29, 2008 — -- The people of Baghdad are by now quite used to hearing how much better their life has become in the city since the surge of U.S. reinforcements in the spring.

Along with the self-imposed cease-fire by the Shiite militias, and the so-called Awakening movement of disaffected former Sunni insurgents who have turned against al Qaeda, the overall level of violence is down by 60 percent, according to the U.S. military.

But there is now another sign that things are getting better in the world's most dangerous city. Baghdad has its first Chinese restaurant.

It's pretty easy to miss, located in a large hole in the wall on a tiny street off a busy thoroughfare in the upscale Korrada district. Its owners are three Chinese steelworkers — a Mr. Wu, Mr. Chi and Miss Yang — who were laid off from their jobs in Hubei province in Central China. They're not related. Each has a spouse and a child at home. Incredibly, they thought that a restaurant in Baghdad was their last chance to make money.

They don't speak Arabic or English. An Iraqi boy waits on tables and somehow manages to communicate with them. Their customers seem very satisfied.

"Actually their food is very clean and cheap," said a man identifying himself only as Abbass. "I come here a lot, sometimes every day."

There's no menu so I had the bright idea of calling ABC's Beijing bureau to find out what it could serve me. I passed the phone to Wu, who was wearing a black-leather bomber jacket.

A stream of rapid-fire Mandarin Chinese poured out of him. In spite of years of experience eating in Chinese restaurants around the world, I didn't recognize a single word, not even chow mein, won ton or sichuan.

ABC's Beijing producer, Chito Romana, translated. Basically he had chicken and carrots, fried rice, mutton meatballs and dumplings.

"Tell him I'll have the dumplings," I said and handed back the phone to Wu.

Chi and Yang sprang into life in the kitchen, which consisted of three gas burners and a small counter in a space about three feet wide, smack in the middle of the restaurant. On the counter were stacked several large trays of food, some of it hard to identify.