Av Dabbawala & Caterings

You can find us at Flat 206 in Srinivasa Anandham, which is right in Miyapur near the Mee Seva center. We run a catering and tiffin service from here, focusing on getting home-cooked meals out to people who are too busy to cook for themselves. The kitchen is almost always active, starting from very early in the morning when we get the fresh vegetables from the market. We aren't a big restaurant with tables and chairs, just a busy kitchen where we pack hundreds of dabbas every day. The smell of dal and spices is pretty much stuck in the curtains by now. We have a small group of delivery guys who know all the office buildings and apartments in this area like the back of their hands. Sometimes the rain slows things down and we have to make calls to apologize for being late, but we usually manage to get the food there on time. It is a lot of chopping, stirring, and cleaning up, day after day. We don't use any fancy equipment, just the same kind of pots and stoves you would have at home, only much bigger. We have been doing this for a few years and have built up a regular crowd of students and workers who rely on us for their lunch. It is hard work and our hands are always tired, but it feels good to see the empty boxes coming back every evening.