Anywhere else it would be utterly unremarkable, but here in the world's most dangerous city it is a major event, a milestone in Baghdad's incipient recovery: a Chinese restaurant has just opened in the Iraqi capital.

It is the humblest of establishments — a tiny, one-room affair just off a busy shopping street. It has no name, simply a sign saying “Food the Chinese Way” in Arabic and Chinese. It is, though, almost certainly the only non-Iraqi restaurant — and possibly the only non-Arab business — in the city except for a handful huddled in the fortified, sealed-off Western enclaves.

It is run by three Chinese men and a Chinese woman named Yang who speak barely a word of Arabic or English but - like their compatriots in Africa, the old Wild West and even Belfast during the Troubles — have dared to venture where others fear to tread in pursuit of profit.

“We decided to come to see if there was opportunity here,” said one of the men, named Wu, whom The Times questioned via a Chinese-speaker on a mobile telephone from London. “We think the situation in Iraq is getting better ... We don't feel lonely because we work from 8am to 9pm each day.”

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The local Baghdadis are delighted at their presence and determined to protect their foreign guests. It makes them feel that peace is on its way. After so much isolation it makes them feel almost cosmopolitan.

“I'm happy to have them here,” said Jassim Mohammed, their landlord. “If they were British or American both they and myself would have been kidnapped and beheaded days ago. In no circumstances would I have rented the shop to them. But I know these are poor Chinese and no one will target them. They're not worth a ransom.”

The previous tenant sold alcohol on the premises, Mr Mohammed added. The shop was smashed up several times and then bombed by religious zealots from the Shia al-Mahdi Army. Finally, last July, they seized the man, and his beheaded corpse was discovered a few days later in east Baghdad. The new tenants have wisely decided not to serve sweet and sour pork.

A larger, smarter Chinese restaurant and trading centre opened in Baghdad soon after the US invasion of 2003 but closed when the country descended into mayhem.

Mr Mohammed said these Chinese, who are all in their forties and financed by a Beijing businessman, arrived with an Iraqi lawyer in December and agreed to rent the premises for a year at $200 (£100) a month.

They have all left behind their husbands or wives, and their statutory single children, in the central Chinese province of Hubei. They sleep in another tiny room next door that Mr Mohammed threw in free.

They have decorated the restaurant with Chinese lanterns, photographs of the Great Wall and kung-fu posters. They cook noodles, dumplings and chicken in a large wok on a gas ring at the back. They have put plastic tables and chairs on the pavement outside and employ an 18-year-old Iraqi boy as a waiter. He alone can communicate with the customers, though not with his employers.

“They don't care where they sleep, they work continuously and that really impresses me,” said Mr Mohammed. He doubts, though, that the venture will succeed. Customers are coming only out of curiosity, he says. “Look at Iraqi restaurants. They are tidier, look better and know what their Iraqi customers really want.”

Mohammed Abid al-Kader, a young shopkeeper across the road, disagrees. “I like it very much. I eat here every day. It's cheaper, cleaner and the food's delicious,” he said. “I feel very happy to see foreigners in my country again. It's a very good sign.” It will be a while, however, before McDonald's arrives in Baghdad.

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