The US has no dearth of Indian restaurants that are often promoted by desi vloggers. But it is quite something to watch popular American vloggers make an effort to not just appreciate our food but also the country’s culture. American YouTuber Xiaoma went a step ahead by indulging in a conversation with some of these restaurant owners in Telugu - a gesture that impressed them so much that Xioama got loads of free food in return.
His restaurant crawl in Jersey started with a restaurant called Pariwaar Delights, where he orders some Irani Chai in Telugu. Irani Chai is a popular Hyderabadi tea preparation made with tea leaves, fresh cream and spices like star anise, cardamom, whole black peppercorns, and sugar. When places his order in broken Telugu, he is greeted with a smiling response and also complimented for his attempt.
After this, he heads to a restaurant named Hyderabad House, where he orders Mutton Biryani in Telugu and finds it absolutely ‘phenomenal’. Besides that, he also gets ‘free chai’ for speaking in the Indian language. Next, at Sapthagiri Taste of India, he gets an uttapam and a mango lassi after flaunting his Telugu at the counter, which came as a pleasant surprise to those at the counter. The free food trail doesn’t stop here. At his next restaurant, Golconda Chimney, he gets more free food after being initially offered a discount. The person at the counter, who hails from Hyderabad, was very impressed at how Xiaoma learned Telugu online. The vlogger told him that he had never been to India, but would like to go soon.
After getting complimentary rasmalai, Xiaoma confesses that he had gotten too ‘much free food’ for the day, for which he compensated by leaving big tips at the restaurant.
This isn’t the first time the YouTuber has eaten free food after learning the Indian language. Xiaoma, who is a self-confessed fan of Indian languages, learned Tamil and went to Tamil eateries in New York City. He said that he had been fascinated by the language after learning that it is one of the world’s oldest languages.