Adelaide restaurateurs say Michelin guide recognition 'a great honour'

In short:

Family-owned and operated restaurant Parwana Afghan Kitchen was inducted into the Michelin Guide last week with a Bib Gourmand award.

The award recognises restaurants which serve high-quality food for great value.

The restaurant, which has been open since 2009, is one of 77 eateries recognised in the inaugural Michelin Guide South Australia.

Parwana Afghan Kitchen in Adelaide has been plating up vibrant, traditional food since 2009.

Now, it is celebrating being recognised on the global stage.

The family-owned and operated restaurant was recently inducted into the Michelin Guide with a Bib Gourmand award, an accolade recognising restaurants which serve high-quality food at great value.

It was an emotional moment years in the making for the family behind the business.

The Ayubi family left Afghanistan during the Cold War, immigrating to Australia as refugees in 1987.

"There was a lot of violence in the country, and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was happening and then there were tensions between the US and Soviet Russia," Durkhanai Ayubi said.

"It was a time of great devastation for Afghanistan and Afghan people."

Durkhanai was one of four young daughters who fled Kabul with their mother and father.

"We left Afghanistan on foot into Pakistan where we stayed in a UN refugee camp for about a year and then eventually, by luck and chance, made our way to Australia as refugees on humanitarian grounds," she said.

"For my parents to have made that journey into the unknown, leaving everything that they loved behind and literally stepping into uncertainty, was a huge move."

Her mother Farida Ayubi recalls the journey being fraught with risk.

"From Kabul to Pakistan, that was really hard to get over the border and there were a lot of police," she said.

"If they know we are running away from Afghanistan, they will not let us, so that was really hard, really scary."

The pair described food as being a central part in their lives and connection to their homeland.

"There's something about the beauty of that food; that it has such a strong pull and allure and is so life-giving and community building, that it just became a really natural part of our life and something really incredible to be able to share with people here," Durkhanai said.

Becoming restaurateurs was a far cry from her parents' former lives in Kabul where her mother had been a high school teacher and her father had worked as a lawyer.

"I love cooking and I knew I can do it,"Farida said.

The family started catering before purchasing the store, which they now operate from, in 2009.

"We thought … if nothing else we'll have a kitchen to do our catering from," Durkhanai said.

"Sure enough, people loved the food and word of mouth spread and we just got busier and busier."

Parwana then expanded into the property next door and released a best-selling book of family stories and recipes.

"That was a continuation of that ethos of being able to share something about Afghanistan and Afghan food and history and culture," Durkhanai said.

"To have that book be in people's homes and kitchens and be dear to so many people … that's been a really incredible part of spreading and sharing a different narrative about Afghanistan too."

The family said the latest Bib Gourmand accolade was a huge moment, with Farida and her son-in-law Sayed Ayaz Ashna who works alongside her in the kitchen collecting the award at a ceremony in Adelaide last week.

Cooking with love

"That was a big surprise for us … it was a great honour, I was a bit emotional," Sayed said.

"We haven't changed much from day one; we cook with love, simple food, lots of love in it."

And while the award has created a bit more demand in their already busy kitchen, Durkhanai said their mission to share warm hospitality and rich culture at the very place where Parwana first began was as pertinent as ever.

"We've just always set out to be true to the ethos of Afghan food, which is all about invitation and generosity and gregariousness,"she said.

"Hopefully more and more people are intrigued about these stories of Afghanistan that are in the morsels of the food rather than the headlines that can be so alienating and so fragmenting for so many people."