We are all very hungry, when we finally get to Kermanshah after a long drive. Our driver already has his idea for our lunch. He has parked the car in a small square and explains to us:
- "The restaurant is in a former hammam. It was the hammam of the town district until a few years ago. But now everyone has a shower at home. People no longer go to the hammam."

We have eaten in former hammams before. This is a good idea, because the rooms are usually very atmospheric. So we walk down a few steps to the entrance of the former bathhouse and are greeted by an employee sitting at a small table. The restaurant is very busy, and he asks us to be patient. It is a traditional restaurant. In the middle of the room, there is an small illuminated fountain. Several tachtes are standing around the fountain. Tachtes resemble large beds which are covered with carpets and cushions. The guests take off their shoes and then sit on the carpets as if they were sitting on the floor.

While we are waiting, we can smell the wonderful taste of fresh bread. They have an in-house bakery where the bread is freshly made. We are feeling even more hungry.
Finally, a tachte gets free and we can go and sit down on the carpets. A waiter rushes to work, spreading a square tablecloth on the carpet in front of us and placing the cutlery on it. Then we make our order. We take the house kebab and my husband and the driver also order a portion of the special stew.
The restaurant is very busy. Most of the guests have finished their meal and are having tea. A large family is sitting on the tachte next to us and seems to be celebrating a birthday. A bit further ahead there is a round of businessmen who are now also sitting back relaxed and satisfied.

Then an elderly smart looking gentleman in a gray wool sweater enters the room. He goes from tachte to tachte, chatting here and there. He seems to know many of the guests. He also greets us politely.
- "Salaam, how are you?" He knows our driver, who has already come here with previous guests.
- "Where are you from? And how do you like Kermanshah?"
We start talking.
- "You absolutely have to visit Taq-e Bostan" he recommends to us «and have a look at the bazaar. This one here is special. »
We gratefully accept the recommendations and talk for a while until our food arrives.
- "Nushedjan – enjoy your meal" the owner briefly bows and then lets us have our meal. The food is excellent. We enjoy the freshly grilled kebab together with cucumber yoghurt and fresh herbs, and we drink a can of coke or sprite.

When we are finally having tea, the owner joins us again. Meanwhile most of the guests have left and the restaurant is very quiet now. The owner brings along a Swiss flag and asks us to be allowed to take a picture with us and the flag. We let him have it.
Now he has more time and he starts to tell us how he has taken over the hammam two years ago and converted it into a restaurant. It is not yet finished; the work is still going on. We have seen how busy the restaurant is. That is why he is renovating more hammam rooms. But that takes time and money. So, he has to do it step by step.
After we have finished our tea, he offers us a tour of the restaurant. We cannot refuse. In Iran you take life as it comes.
So we follow the corridors of the hammam to the other chambers. While in some rooms the construction work obviously is still in progress, other rooms are almost finished. They are very tastefully decorated, and I am convinced that the guests will love it.

Finally it is time to say goodbye. We exchange some more courtesies and in the end the owner chuckles:
- "I once had two guests; they were from Switzerland too. The poor chaps were travelling around on their bicycles." He is shaking his head not understanding, who would do such a a thing. "They were very dirty and soaked with sweat, when they got here and they hardly knew any Farsi. I felt so sorry for them. So, I invited them for lunch. But they were very nice guys."