The Spice Square

We’ve been running The Spice Square at No 183 Kamaraj Salai in Pondicherry for quite a while now. It is right near the Periyar Statue, so most people use that as a landmark when they are trying to find us. It’s a busy street and there is always something going on outside the front door. We aren't a big fancy restaurant with a lot of staff in uniforms. It is just a few of us here. We keep things pretty simple. The kitchen is small and it gets very hot in the afternoons, but we just keep the fans going. We have some wooden tables and chairs that have seen better days. It is not about being stylish or anything like that. We just serve food to whoever walks in. Mostly it’s locals from the neighborhood or people working nearby who want a quick meal. Sometimes tourists wander in because they saw the sign while walking to the statue. We don't have a big menu. We just cook what we know. Sometimes we run out of things by the end of the day. The floors are a bit worn down from all the feet walking over them over the years. We just mop them at night and start again the next day. It’s a regular life for us here in Pondy. We don’t do any advertising. We just open up and wait for the regulars.