Peace and pizzas

Travelling to Bhutan by road from the Dooars (West Bengal) entails waiting for a while in Phuentsholing for your entry papers to be processed. The park here with its Gumbha and prayer flags is the centre of town, and if you sit at Kizom Café, you can nurture body and soul, as you look out on it. Kizom means peace in the Bhutanese language.

Pleasant, smiling waitstaff fetch coffee as good as any you might get at a big chain coffee shop. Even better, I feel, as I look into the Apollo face in my cup. Those classic features etched lovingly in coffee and cream warm my heart. You could ponder the meaning of the universe, or wonder why it takes so long to start off on your journey into the mountains beyond. Or you might find out why they charge 100 ngultrum for an iced tea, but make you an excellent thin crust pizza, at just 300 ngultrum.

Sit downstairs and watch life on the street the Bhutanese women look elegant in their Kira skirts, and the men tough and dignified in knee-length costumes worn with long stockings. But if you want to do nothing but concentrate on that divine chocolate tart and wonder who bakes it and how, sit in the plush lounge upstairs.The pastry chef Sanjib and baker Palash moved here from Kolkata. Lakpa Sherpa, the pizza chef, and coffee-master Puran were trained in Bengaluru.

Puran tells me they want Kizom to be the best in all Bhutan. So, how does it feel to live and work in this out-of-the-way border town Sanjib says, &ldquoNo tension, good life, great climate.&rdquo He seems to have found Kizom.