# Kaboul Kitchen

Kaboul Kitchen is a French comedy television series broadcast by Canal+. It was created by Marc Victor, Allan Mauduit and Jean-Patrick Benes. The series is based on the true story of Radio France Internationale journalist Marc Victor, who ran a restaurant for French expatriates in Kabul until 2008. The first series premiered on February 15, 2012, on Canal+ and ended on March 5, 2012. It set a ratings record for comedy series in the primetime slot on Canal+. A second series of 12 episodes aired in France in 2014.
The series depicts the life of French expatriate Jacky who runs the popular restaurant Kaboul Kitchen in Kabul, Afghanistan. His daughter Sophie, who he has not seen in 20 years, arrives to do humanitarian work, while he is interested in keeping the restaurant afloat with challenges of local officials, Taliban neighbors, and more.
The series won two Golden FIPA Awards at the 2012 Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels: one for Best TV Series and one for Best TV Screenplay. It was screened at MIPTV and named fourth on The Hollywood Reporter's list of "MIPTV A-List Projects" for the most promising series screened at the event.

## Cast

* Gilbert Melki as Jacky
* Stéphanie Pasterkamp [fr] as Sophie
* Benjamin Bellecour as Axel
* Alexis Michalik as Damien
* Simon Abkarian as Colonel Amanullah
* Marc Citti as Victor
* Braham Bihi as Sayed
* Nadia Niazi as Hamida
* Fayçal Azizi as Habib
* Fanny Touron as Camille
* Jonas Senhadji as Carl
* Lucia Sanchez as Rosemary
* Serge Dupire as Bob
* Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as Paul Braque
* Natacha Lindinger as Victoria (season 3)

## Production

The series is loosely based on the real life experiences of journalist and co-creator of the series, Marc Victor. From 2003 to 2008, Victor ran a French restaurant for foreign NGO workers in Kabul. Although much in the series is for dramatic effect, a few incidents, such as a wealthy donor sending skis to Afghanistan, really happened.
Gilbert Melki was selected to play the mercenary Jacky as he had evenly divided his career between comedy and drama films, a quality creator Allan Mauduit found desirable. The series was filmed mainly in Casablanca, Morocco where the crew had to use dust machines to simulate the dusty conditions of Kabul. The actors studied Dari with language coaches.
A third season was broadcast in France in 2017.
A fourth season has been claimed to be in production.

## Episode list
### Series 1

| # | Title | Director | Original air date |
| 1 | "La fille à la grosse valise" | Jean-Patrick Benes | 13 February 2012 (2012-02-13) |
| Jacky's daughter arrives in Kabul. She wants to do humanitarian work, but he just wants her to leave. ||||
| 2 | "La piscine" | Jean-Patrick Benes | 13 February 2012 (2012-02-13) |
| Jacky runs into trouble when swimsuit-clad girls in his pool cause controversy. ||||
| 3 | "La panthère et l'imprimeur" | Jean-Patrick Benes | 13 February 2012 (2012-02-13) |
| Colonel Amanullah decides to help Jacky find a reliable liquor supplier, but he ends up causing more problems. ||||
| 4 | "Dollars et passion" | Unknown | 20 February 2012 (2012-02-20) |
| Jacky must pay his taxes, but quickly falls for the tax comptroller. ||||
| 5 | "Peur sur Kaboul" | Unknown | 20 February 2012 (2012-02-20) |
| Jacky hires guards to reassure his frightened patrons after two rockets fall on Kabul. ||||
| 6 | "Vices et versets" | Unknown | 20 February 2012 (2012-02-20) |
| Jacky is forced to hide Colonel Amanullah's mistress at the restaurant. ||||
| 7 | "Le départ de Sophie" | Unknown | 27 February 2012 (2012-02-27) |
| When Jacky gets a stomachache, he is convinced that he has cancer. ||||
| 8 | "Petits mensonges entre amis" | Unknown | 27 February 2012 (2012-02-27) |
| One of Jacky's old friends, a journalist, comes to Kabul to investigate the opium trade. ||||
| 9 | "Martine à Kaboul" | Unknown | 27 February 2012 (2012-02-27) |
| Jacky's ex-wife arrives in Kabul, demanding €60,000 in child support that he owes her. ||||
| 10 | "Crise de foi" | Unknown | 5 March 2012 (2012-03-05) |
| The restaurant's cook is unhappy with the pork and alcohol served at Kaboul Kitchen and decides to go on strike. ||||
| 11 | "Cool à Kaboul" | Unknown | 5 March 2012 (2012-03-05) |
| When riots break out in the city, Jacky must rescue Sophie, the restaurant and all of his patrons. ||||
| 12 | "Pas cool à Kaboul" | Unknown | 5 March 2012 (2012-03-05) |
| A pile of money vanishes and the Taliban show up. ||||

## Ratings

| Episodes | Air date | Number of viewers |
| 1, 2 and 3 | February 13, 2012 | 940,000 |
| 10, 11 and 12 | March 5, 2012 | 875 000 |

## Awards

* 2012 Golden FIPA Award for the Best TV Series at the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels
* 2012 Golden FIPA Award for the Best TV Screenplay at the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels
* 2014 Grand prize (Daesang) at the Seoul International Drama Awards