The famous tourist spot among the foreigner
and the nature lover got a surprise gift on the Valentine
day. A Parisian Café, a real French café has
been inaugurated here in the town.
The café is situated on the Robertson
Road and it is called Le Casse Croute. In front of the café
three Frenchmen and a local woman told that their intention
is to engage the local people in a romance. `The meaning of
Le Casse Croute is something like `quick food`, but not exactly
fast food,` said 28-year-old Mr. Patrice Ourcudoy, a management
executive from Paris. He is the first who dreamt to do something
here in Darjeeling. As long as the food too remains `untranslated`
- no sweet brown-bread please - no one will complain. The
café right now is offering mainly pizzas and panini
with a lot of yummy mozzarella cheese thrown in. Rates of
the foods are deliberately low so that the local people can
enjoy the culinary delights of the French.
Mr. Laurent Blain, chef-cum-baker-`cum-poet`
said that they don`t want to start with French food right
away. He also said that they will have a meal of the day in
future and it will be different everyday, ranging from Continental
smorgasbord to North African to Mexican. The chef assured
that they will serve the people with good foods. It is hard
to find the right quality of flour, we will be making bread
only against orders,` the chef said, adding that they have
been scouring for sources that can provide with them quality
ingredients. Mr. Durcudoy came here in Darjeeling 10 years
ago and stayed two week. During this two week he was fascinated
and he decided to stay here in Darjeeling. The same things
happened with Mr. Blain who had been traveling around in India
for a year. But when he came here fell in the love of this
beautiful place, even wanted to live here. Why Darjeeling?
Both of them struggle to convey their reasons.
In their answer they were telling that
the atmosphere, the people are very nice and also helpful.
They also said that we had an intension to stay in Darjeeling.
It is hard to explain they said. They certified this place
telling that this is one among the other you ever seen. How
easy was it to set up the shop in a country which seemingly
is laying out red carpet for foreign investment? There was
so much paper work to complete, bureaucratic maze on both
sides. `We had to keep running from the pillar to post both
in India and France. The senior officials were happy about
our projects but the junior staff worked very slowly,` said
Mr. Durcudoy. The image of the town will be increased for
this French café. The tourism industry will be able
to promote their high quality business in the region. |
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