Le Meilleur Chocolat

Our kitchen is over in Jay Avatpuri Apartments in Goregaon West. It’s a quiet spot compared to the main road, tucked away on the N 3 4 side. Most days, the whole hallway smells like cocoa. We aren't a big factory or anything like that. Just a few of us working with the molds and the tempering machines. Sometimes the power goes out and we have to scramble to keep the chocolate from seizing up in the heat. It’s a lot of manual work, stirring and checking temperatures by hand. We spend a lot of time on our feet. The floors get a bit sticky by the end of the shift, no matter how much we scrub. We pack everything into the little boxes ourselves. Sometimes the labels aren't perfectly straight, but we try our best. It gets quite hot in the kitchen when the ovens are on, even with the small window open to get a breeze. We see the same faces coming by the apartment block. Some neighbors stop in just to say hello or ask what we're making today. We use these heavy bags of ingredients that we have to haul up from the entrance. It’s tiring but it’s what we do. We don't have a big storefront with bright lights. Just the room where we work. We’ve been at this address for a bit now. It’s a simple setup. We just keep our heads down and get things ready for our customers.