Pan Palace

Pan Palace sits right there at No- 4 in the Jewel Milan Apartment building. If you know Bandra West, you know how busy the streets get around here. We’ve been at 30 Bandra West for a while now. It’s a small spot, but we make it work. Every morning starts with opening up the shutters and wiping down the glass counters. There’s a specific smell to the place—a mix of betel leaves, tobacco, and maybe a bit of the incense we light near the small shrine in the corner. People come by at all hours. Some are regulars who don’t even have to say what they want; we just start making it as soon as we see them walking up. Others are just passing through, looking for a quick refreshment or a pack of something. The Jewel Milan building has its own rhythm, with residents coming and going, and we’re just one part of that daily flow. It gets crowded in the evenings when everyone is out for a walk or heading home from work. We don’t have fancy chairs or a lounge area. It’s more of a stand-and-talk kind of place. Sometimes the traffic outside is so loud we have to shout a bit to hear the orders. We keep the fridge stocked with cold drinks, which is a lifesaver when the Mumbai heat gets to be too much. It’s a simple life, running a shop like this. You meet everyone from the neighborhood and hear all the latest gossip.