http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/12/10/2719518-sun.htmlAK-47 appetizers for main-course security
KABUL -- Guests at l'Atmosphere restaurant in the Afghan capital are scrutinized by the meanest bouncers on the planet.
You pass through a metal door set in a high stone wall, topped by rolls of razor wire, flanked by six guards armed with Russian-made AK-47s. Inside, a bored-looking Afghan rises from his seat next to the woodstove, waves a metal detector wand over you, frisks you and empties your pockets.
You push through a woolen flap, through a courtyard lit by kerosene lamps - and straight into the hoppingest war-zone nightclub since Rick's joint in Casablanca. The lounge is usually jammed wall-to-wall with diplomats, civil servants and aid-group employees from 100 nations.
There's a decent house red wine, cold beer, a full menu, a killer sound system and a roaring log fire - wood being the only reliable source of heat in Kabul since the city lost hydro when the river dried up six years ago.
Owner Marc Victor, a former French radio journalist, opened the restaurant two and a half years ago. But the muscle has been in place for only about six weeks.