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When Kabul House opened in 2010, it was one of the only Afghan restaurants in Sydney. Now there are several on the same street, but even in Merrylands’ Afghan district, Kabul House is the busiest. Like most great Afghan restaurants, its reputation is built on rice and meat.

The protagonist is the qabuli palaw, a hefty serving of lamb stock enriched rice and a shank tender enough to dismantle with a spoon. That’s the usual centrepiece, flanked by plates of robustly marinated barbecue meats, tandoor-baked flatbreads and mantu, the delicate dumplings of central Asia.

Back in 2010, the no-frills space would fill with a clientele of Afghani Australians, but now it’s a western suburbs institution – a reliable diner where kids play under tables, old friends share both chips and palaw, and families order, eat and drink tea, all in under 40 minutes.