In pictures: Fine dining in Erbil’s Naranj restaurant

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  The family of Talal Nizam, founder of Naranj restaurant, was involved in the oil trade but he chose a different path. Hana Hama / Metrography

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  Talal Nizam has 60 people employed at the newly opened Naranj restaurant in Erbil. Hana Hama / Metrography

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  ERBIL, IRAQ: Naranj Restaurant . Hana Hama / Metrography

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  Thirty-seven heads of state have dined in Talal Nizam’s Naranj restaurant in Damascus. Hana Hama / Metrography

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  The original branch of the Syrian restaurant in the Midhat Pasha area of Damascus, above, gained media prominence last year after a photograph emerged of Bashar Al Assad and his wife dining with John Kerry in 2009, when he was senator for Massachusetts. Youssef Badawi / EPA

The Erbil branch of Syrian restaurant Naranj had its soft opening last week, an expansion to benefit from the region's economic boom in hospitality and tourism and to offset losses from the main restaurant in Damascus.