Choco Lala

Linking Road in Bandra West is always loud, and being here at Choco Lala means we hear the traffic and the shoppers all day long. It is a busy spot, and sometimes it gets quite hectic inside when too many people try to crowd around the chocolate displays at once. We spend our mornings checking the temperature of the fridges because if they go off by even a few degrees, everything starts to soften. The glass gets fingerprints on it almost as soon as we clean it, which is a bit of a constant battle. We keep the lights dim because it feels better for the chocolate, even if it makes it a little hard to see into the corners of the shop sometimes. There are these heavy boxes of cocoa that arrive twice a week, and hauling them through the narrow door is always a chore. We have a small back room where we wrap things up in foil and paper. The tape dispenser makes a sharp noise every time we pull a piece off. Most people who come in are just looking for a small treat after walking through the market outside. The floor is tiled and sometimes gets a bit slippery if someone comes in with wet shoes during the rains. We don’t have a big sign, but the smell usually lets people know they are in the right place near the corner. It is just us doing our daily work here.