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At the Buns and Guns fast-food restaurant, deep in Beirut's Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs, the chefs wear military helmets, the food is wrapped in camouflage paper and the motto is "a sandwich can kill you."

The restaurant, opened less than a month ago, is outfitted like a military outpost and located in the heart of a neighbourhood heavily pounded by Israel during its 2006 war with Hezbollah.

Sandbags cover the exterior - a grim, and perhaps inadvertent, reminder of what Lebanon's government buildings looked like during the 1975-1990 civil war - and the interior is festooned with camouflage nets, defused mortar shells and live ammunition.

"We thought at the beginning that it was a weapons store, but later we discovered that it was actually a fast-food restaurant," said customer Amr Nahas as he ordered a "magnum," a grilled chicken sandwich, with a side order of "grenades" or potato wedges.

"The sandwiches are really delicious," he added.

The restaurant's founding comes during a particularly tense period in Lebanese politics. Fighting between supporters of the government and the Hezbollah-led opposition in May killed 81 people and raised fears of a renewed civil war.

"The idea came before all the clashes that happened in Lebanon," co-owner Ali Hamoud said. "But in the end [the clashes] helped in advertising the restaurant."

"Establishing a military restaurant is a new, fancy idea - there are people who like anything that deals with weapons," said one employee, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

He said that the restaurant has been doing brisk business since it opened and added that Hezbollah was not connected with the business. "Buns and Guns is a commercial enterprise that has nothing to do with politics."

Customers enter the restaurant under a sign bearing the restaurant's name - in English. Its motto, "a sandwich can kill you," is a reference to the large portions. Employees in military uniforms serve meals to the taped sounds of gunfire as "background music."

The glossy camouflaged menus feature burgers with names such as "the mortar" and "the 155 mm howitzer," while grilled chicken sandwiches can be a "magnum" or a "rocket-propelled grenade."

A pizza topped with peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, corn and tomatoes, meanwhile, is rather disturbingly named Claymore, referring to the devastating anti-personnel mine.

Lebanon's most common weapon, the AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle, is a beef steak sandwich served in long baguette-style bread.