Customer is not king at The Piano Man Jazz Club, Delhi’s first artist-led bar. For its owner, Arjun Sagar Gupta, the heroes are the musicians who perform there. Shut up or get out, he’ll announce on the mic, if you’re talking too loudly after a few whisky sours. This may go against every rule of hospitality, but no one seems to care. Least of all the packed crowd—the city’s fashion fraternity included—that jostles for space in its cosy interiors.

“If you can’t respect the musician, we don’t want you here. It’s as simple as that, and it’s amazing—people come in and actually listen to the music,” says Gupta, who opened the bar about eight months ago. Since then, it has hosted over 215 shows, umpteen bands (no musician plays more than once in six weeks), and midnight jam sessions during which Gupta takes over the piano.

Though he’s a restaurateur now, Gupta’s a musician at heart. He’s played the piano for 15 years, and was a Fulbright scholar of music at Boston’s Northeastern University back in 2007. In fact, his foray into the food business was almost a whim, when, in 2010, friends from Bhutan suggested they start a bakery— Cake Away—together. He took over operations when they were unable to devote time to it. Two years later he capitalised on his passion for music with a low-key jazz cafe that he opened in Vasant Vihar. No meat or alcohol was served, and the cover charge went to the performing artistes. Yet, diners stayed and listened. Gupta expanded in February 2015 by taking over the building in Safdarjung that houses The Piano Man. On one floor, he opened an outlet of Cake Away, and a restaurant, Dirty Apron, on another—three distinct vibes, one nondescript building.