The Gota restaurant was packed. Cars lined the streets, you had to wait for a table and laughter filled the air as families gathered to break their Ramadan fasts in the upmarket Baghdad neighbourhood.

Even the crackle of gunfire in the background could not spoil the mood - for once, it was not caused by insurgents but a wedding party, firing off some rounds in celebration. “It’s like a dream, but it’s become truth,” said Sarmad, 29, a trendy, confident young professional. This is the first Ramadan since violence spiralled out of control in 2005 that Iraqis have felt safe enough to break their fasts in restaurants. In recent months people have even had the confidence to visit parks and spend the afternoons shopping; an unimaginable scenario as recently as six months ago.

For young, single men such as Sarmad it is a godsend. “We can meet girls now,” he said.

Love is in the Baghdad air, but the young men, eager for a date, still face the very real threat of an overprotective father or elder brother. It would be impossible to approach a girl directly and strike up a conversation.

This has simply made them more resourceful. A note, with your phone number, could be dropped beside a girl you like, but by far the most common method used is to send her a mobile phone message using Bluetooth technology.

Ice-cream shops and parks are popular places to pick up girls and to meet for dates. On a typical weekday hundreds of young people, many of them university students, gather in parks to mingle, chat and find prospective partners. “It usually happens by sending your phone number by Bluetooth and then you wait for her to give you a call,” Ahmmed Jaseb, 28, who goes to restaurants three or four times a week to look for girls, said. “We talk, go on a date, go to another restaurant. You have to go a couple of times to prove that you start to love her and not that you just want sex.”

In Gota, Sarmad was eager to illustrate. He turned on the Bluetooth capability on his phone, allowing others with the same technology to contact him, and soon his mobile was buzzing. Five or six names popped up of other users in the restaurant. Only one was a man. “Abodi? You can guess he is a big man,” said Sarmad. Another had the moniker, “My mother is my world”. Sarmad commented: “You can guess she is a girl.”

He had seen a girl he liked in the corner and now he had to try and track her down. Showing persistence, Sarmad soon made contact. A message was swapped, then a photo and finally a romantic song.

“Girls like to do phone calls after 12. It is cheaper and the family are asleep,” Sarmad said. He later arranged a date with the girl with whom he had made contact.

Because of the benefits of increased security, the Government has been able to reopen Baghdad’s parks. “This is freedom,” said Seraj Sabar, 26, a guard at a city centre park and a university student. “This is a place where people can meet.”

However, getting into the park is not easy. When The Times tried to visit we were turned away. “You need to be with a girl or a family,” shrugged Mr Sabar. Single males, or, as in our case, a group, are banned.

Kissing and cuddling, however, are not. “There are guards watching and if they do anything more than usual, they tell them to stop,” Sayed Akel, a 37-year-old security supervisor, said.

“They catch many people having sex,” said Mr Sabar.

The guards also have a very strict rule of not allowing men to bring girls under 18 into the park. “They try it sometimes,” said Mr Akel.

Despite the mood of optimism, there are still dangers, with ice-cream shops and restaurants often being targeted by suicide bombers. This week a car bomber in the district of Karrada killed two people outside an ice-cream shop.

Baghdad’s daters, however, remain undeterred, prepared to take the risk in the hope of finding love.

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