Saeed Restaurant

We are located at Shop No 7 on R S Nimkar Marg. It’s right in the heart of Mumbai Central, near Nag Pada. If you know Mumbai, you know how busy this area gets. It’s noisy, crowded, and there is always something happening outside our door. We’ve been here for a while, serving whoever walks in. It’s a small restaurant, nothing like the big fancy places you see in the malls. The kitchen is small and we are always bumping into each other when it’s busy. We don’t have a lot of time for small talk during the lunch rush. We just focus on getting the plates out. The fans on the ceiling are old and they make a bit of noise, but they keep the air moving. We get all kinds of people here—workers, travelers from the station, and folks who live in the neighborhood. It’s a real mix. We don’t use any special words to describe our food. It’s just what we cook every day. Some days we run out of things early if the crowd is big. We don’t have a manager in a suit; it’s just us in our aprons. We’ve seen the street change over the years, but our shop stays pretty much the same. It’s hard work, especially with the Mumbai heat, but we’re used to it by now. We just mop the floor at night and get ready to do it all again tomorrow.