In Shantiniketan's lazy afternoons, one of the few things that seems to escape the slight torpor of the town is Alcha Café.

The café is in the grounds of what looks like an untended government bungalow, with a flurry of bougainvillea framing the entrance gate. It is attached to the Alcha store, which offers accessories, apparel and home embellishments designed and made locally in Santiniketan.

Easy to miss at first glance, Alcha Café is at the end of a winding path. Inside, a small, neatly arranged room with pristine white walls and unfussy wooden furniture forms the seating area. The café also features a lending library and what is possibly the smallest bookstore in the world. Despite the heat, an alfresco bamboo enclosure proves to be a much better option than jostling for space indoors with Japanese art school hipsters.

The menu is compact, but classic. There are eggs made just the way you like them, teamed with the café’s own warm, freshly baked bread. Domestic alternatives like velvety South Indian upmas are more than reliable. The pancakes are a right treat – soft but well formed, and come dusted with a slightly grainy icing and your choice of topping.

The delicious crêpes come with the expected fillings, but the café staff is also more than happy to customize them for you. If you ask nicely. The beverages round off the menu, with regular hot items (their coffee was lacklustre) and some particularly luscious chilled options. We made a beeline for the zesty, tongue-clicking fruit drinks, frothy cold coffees, and sharp iced teas.

Come here to shoot the breeze with friends over a tasty meal and perpetuate the great Bengali tradition of impassioned and inconclusive debate. Or if you’re in Santiniketan for longer, join the lending library for languorous hours spent reading and reflecting as the heat makes way for dusk.