La Kuchina (Jehan Numa Palace Hotel)

We are part of the Jehan Numa Palace Hotel, located up on Shamla Hills at Plot No 157. Bhopal is a city with a lot of hills, and this area is one of the more recognized ones. La Kuchina is where we do our cooking. Even though we are in a palace hotel, we are just regular people working in a kitchen. The day starts with deliveries coming in through the back. We check the vegetables, start the sauces, and get the ovens hot. It’s a lot of heat and noise once the orders start coming in. We don't have a fancy way of talking about our work. It’s just about getting the plates right and making sure the floor is clean at the end of the shift. The view from Shamla Hills is nice, but we mostly see the inside of the kitchen and the dining area. We’ve got some staff who have been here for years and others who are just starting out. We teach each other as we go. Sometimes we get a bit overwhelmed when there is a big event in the hotel, but we just push through it. We don't use marketing talk or try to sound like a big corporation. We are just a team of cooks and servers in Bhopal doing our daily jobs. It’s hard work, but it feels good when the shift is over and everything is tucked away for tomorrow here at 462013.