Kunzum Travel Café — Indian Hospitality Magazine
Cafe Edition

Kunzum Travel Café

Hauz Khas Village's pay-what-you-like travel café — built on trust, survived on conversation

K

Ajay Jain

Founder · Est. 2010 · Hauz Khas Village, Delhi NCR

Kunzum Travel Café opened in 2010 in Hauz Khas Village on a principle that most hospitality professionals would consider commercially inviable: pay what you like. There is no bill. There is no minimum charge. There is a box on the counter and you put in whatever you think your visit was worth. Ajay Jain — traveller, author, and the café's founder — built Kunzum on the conviction that a travel-themed space should embody the traveller's ethic: generosity, trust, and the exchange of stories.

The café is decorated with travel photographs, maps, and books from destinations worldwide. It hosts travel talks, photography exhibitions, and conversation sessions that bring together Delhi's backpackers, travel writers, and curious visitors. The bookshelves are stocked with travel literature that visitors are encouraged to browse and leave recommendations in.

Fifteen years later, the pay-what-you-like model has not been abandoned. The box remains on the counter. The café remains open. The fact of its survival — in one of Delhi's most expensive retail neighbourhoods — is itself the most compelling argument for the model.

Kunzum Travel Café — additional image

“We trust our visitors. They trust us. If you believe in that as a business model, you are welcome. If you do not, you are still welcome.”

What Defines Kunzum Travel Café

Coffee— Served without a price tag. The coffee is good; the trust model is the point.
Chai— Masala chai served in the same trust-based format. The preparation is straightforward.
Travel Conversation— The primary product of the café, not listed on any menu. Visitors share stories, routes, and recommendations across the communal tables.
Travel Library— The bookshelves stocked with guidebooks, travelogues, and maps. Free to browse; encouraged to contribute.

The Experience

The experience is not the coffee — it is the principle. You walk into a space where nothing has a price. You sit as long as you want. You drink what you want. You leave what you feel is fair. The trust required on both sides of that transaction is the experience.

Rated & Reviewed By

Lonely Planet India · Condé Nast Traveller India · Zomato 4.0★ · National Geographic Traveller

Editorial Notes

  • The pay-what-you-like model has been maintained for fifteen years — one of the longest-running such experiments in Indian hospitality.
  • Closed Mondays.
  • Hauz Khas Village's transformation into a retail and dining destination provides the commercial context against which the café's trust model operates.
  • Recommended for hospitality students studying alternative pricing models and trust-based customer relationships.
  • The café hosts regular travel talks and photography exhibitions — the events calendar is available at the café.

Getting There

Nearest Metro: Hauz Khas (Yellow/Magenta Line, 10-minute walk through the village). The café is in the main lane of Hauz Khas Village, upper floor.