IL Forno

We have been running IL Forno on Hadimba Temple Road for quite some time now. Manali is a beautiful place to live, but it sure gets cold in the winter months. We spend a lot of our mornings just getting the wood-fired oven up to the right temperature. It takes a bit of work to get the logs sorted and the fire going just right. The building itself is nothing too special, just a local spot where we make food every day. When the tourist season starts, the road outside gets really busy with people walking up to the temple. We see a lot of folks coming in with their heavy jackets and muddy shoes. We try to keep the floors clean, but it is a losing battle sometimes. It is just me and a few local guys working the kitchen. We do not use any fancy machines, mostly just our hands and the oven. Sometimes the electricity goes out when it snows, so we have to use candles and keep the fire going for light. It is a quiet life for the most part. We like the smell of the pine trees and the smoke from the kitchen. We are not trying to be a big city restaurant. We just want to make sure the food is hot and people have a place to sit. That is about all there is to it.