I think I've really fallen in love with Kashan and the people. So I tried it this way, doing it with the restaurant.

Jane Modarresian, restaurant owner

Iranian traditional cuisine is rich and varied, but unfortunately, it is largely confined to Iranian homes.

In most restaurants, the kebab in its various forms rules supreme, and there is usually not much else on the menu.

From London to Kashan

However, in the small town of Kashan, set in the deserts of central Iran, there is a restaurant with a difference.

It is a Thursday morning, and Jane Modarresian and her Iranian husband Reza are out shopping.

They moved to Kashan with their three children 10 years ago, after running a restaurant near London.

Jane clearly does not think it was a mistake.

The Modarresians shop in the local bazaar

"I like the people," she says.

"The people are very friendly, and very kind."

"I like everything about it. I go out and do my own shopping, I have my own life, I'm free to do what I like here."

However, Jane is not just shopping for her own family.

Instant success

Two years ago, she opened a restaurant, 'Delpazeer' or 'Delightful' in English.

It rapidly took off, capturing, in particular, many of the tourists visiting the town's historic sites.

Most Iranian restaurants serve little but variations on the ubiquitous kebab.

Dalpazeer chefs discuss the day's menu with Jane

Jane does that too, but she also offers the kind of home-made dishes that have made Persian cuisine famous around the world.

"It's very tiring, very hard work," she says.

"I think sometimes, 'Why am I doing this? I must be crazy, running around.' But then again I think, I really do enjoy doing what I'm doing."

"We haven't made an awful lot out of it. It's not the money at all."

"I think I've really fallen in love with Kashan and the people."

"So I tried it this way, doing it with the restaurant."

Special attention

Jane introduces more clients to her home-cooking

The clientele, especially the foreign visitors, certainly appreciate the effort.

"I asked for a special dish made of vegetables and special things, you know, it was really good," says one tourist.

One Iranian tourist guide explained why it is that, by comparison, most Iranian restaurants are so monotonous.

"In Iran, the people eat at home the traditional plates," it says.

"But when they are going in the restaurants, it's for kebab, only for kebab."

"Because at home, it's impossible."

"That's why everywhere kebab, kebab and for English people, French people, it's difficult."

"They are for two week and everywhere in the restaurant, kebab."

Well-behaved clientele

Customer relations: You don't get any abuse in Iran

For Jane, certain facts of life in the Islamic Republic make it easier to run a restaurant in Iran than in England.

"Here there's no drink," she says.

"So of course that makes a lot of difference."

"You don't get any abuse, which in London you do."

"They come in and they have too much to drink, and they start saying, 'We're not going to pay for this', you know, and then they start playing up."

"We don't get that."

The good life in Iran

Jane's eldest son, Ali, who is 17, also works in the restaurant.

Ali: In England, I don't see any fun for me

He still feels - and sounds - English, but there is nowhere he would rather be.

"I know myself that I'm foreign and everyone knows that and they all treat me that way that I am a foreigner and they look after me very good but I love it," he says.

"I won't change that at all with anything."

"In England, I don't see any fun for me," he says.

"Because like, the young people like 17 or 18 over there, what do they do?"

"They smoke or go to nightclubs, and I don't like that."

"I don't see any fun in it."

In fact, moving her family to Iran has meant that all of Jane's three children have turned out quite different.

Farah: Confused

"Ali is very English," she says.

"Hassan very Iranian. Now Farah, she's in between. She's a bit of both, I think she's a bit mixed up in that way."

"They all have their own different characters. Hopefully, when they get older, they won't blame me or anything."

"I say to them, 'Wouldn't you've liked your dad to have married an Iranian?'

"They says no, we like to be a little bit different."

The closeness of Iranian family life is one of the main factors persuading Jane to stay on.

And, she also feels another challenge coming on.

"My main ambition now is to do the hotel," she says.

"I really, really, feel the go to go and do it. That's my challenge. Definitely."