Hotel Sharada

Hotel Sharada is tucked away in Andheri East, right in the 3rd Lane of Darukhanada. The address is a bit of a mouthful, especially with the Reay Road Shetty Estate and Parsi Panchayat nearby. Most people get lost the first time they try to find us. We start very early in the kitchen, getting the big pots of water boiling and chopping up whatever vegetables came in that morning. The air in the kitchen gets thick with steam and the smell of spices pretty quickly. We don't have a fancy dining room with soft carpets. It’s mostly just sturdy tables and chairs that can handle a lot of people. During the lunch hour, it gets really loud and we are all moving as fast as we can to get the plates out to everyone. There is always a lot of clattering from the dishes and people shouting orders over the noise of the fans. After the main rush is over, we spend a long time just scrubbing the floors and cleaning the stove. It’s hard work, and we are usually pretty tired by the time the afternoon lull hits. The building itself is old, so we are always painting over a scratch on the wall or fixing a leaky pipe in the washroom. It is a busy place, and we just focus on getting the food ready and keeping the tables cleared for the next person who walks in.