Sanjana Cateres

We are right there opposite the Arabic College and the BDA Complex. It’s a very busy part of the city and there’s always people moving around outside our doors. Our setup is pretty simple. We have the main cooking area and a place where we keep all the catering equipment stacked up. Being near the college means there’s a lot of energy around, especially during lunch hours. We start our prep work quite early because the heat in the kitchen gets intense by midday if we don't stay ahead of it. We spend hours chopping ginger, garlic, and greens. Sometimes the power goes out and we have to manage with what we’ve got, but that’s just how things go here. We handle a lot of different types of food, mostly depending on what people ask for that week. The traffic near the Arabic College can be a nightmare in the evenings, so we have to plan our deliveries really carefully or the food will just sit in the van getting cold. We have a small team, and we’ve worked together for so long that we don't really need to talk much to get the work done. It’s just about keeping the rhythm going and making sure the stoves are clean. We aren't trying to be anything fancy, just a local kitchen doing its thing every day. When the sun goes down, we clean the floors and get ready to do it all over again.