Indian-origin chef in Australia gains massive support after viral video of empty stall, reacts to harsh comments | Trending

An Indian-origin chef in Sydney, Australia, is winning hearts online after a viral video captured him at his pop-up stall, showcasing a variety of Indian food items but with no customers in sight. The image shows an Indian-origin chef in his empty stall. (Instagram/@thecolonialrestaurants) Finally, the elderly man was seen running for cover after packing up the stall as it starts to rain. Unlock exclusive access to the latest news on India’s general elections, only on the HT App. Download Now! Download Now! “Our beloved Head Chef @himalayansaltsydney made food for the people of Sydney but no one came,” Sydney-based restaurant chain The Colonial Restaurants wrote on Instagram, along with a video of Chef Padam Vyas at the stall. “No one came to try his food,” the caption on the Instagram Reels says. The same video, which a Sydney-based marketing agency posted, has garnered a whopping 47.1 million views (and counting). Take a look at the video here: While most of the 18,000-plus comments under the video are positive, showing support for the chef, a handful of users criticised Indian street food and questioned its hygiene. “His food was probably the best one at the whole market,” another user wrote. “Stop, I’ll eat every food in his stall,” another person commented. Speaking to HT.com, Chef Vyas, 67, opened up about what happened that day. He clarified that a few customers did visit his stall. “A few people came. It was a nasty day. It was raining… People who are trolling, they don’t know. They don’t know the atmosphere and the system in Australia,” he said, adding that licences are required before undertaking any outdoor catering in Australia. “Without that, you can’t do catering,” he said. “This is not street food. This is food from a five-star restaurant. This is not India. This is different.” He had food items such as samosa, chicken tikka masala, butter chicken, seekh kabab and rogan josh at his stall at the pop-up. Chef Vyas, who moved to Australia in 1988, has worked at some of the top hotels in Delhi in the past. He runs a catering company in Sydney and also works with The Colonial Restaurants. “We had participated in a pop up event for local businesses. We had put in a lot of effort expecting an event with heavy footfall. Unfortunately it rained heavily before and during the event, which meant that the turnout was extremely low and pretty much did not sell anything,” Pankaj Khandelwal, executive director of The Colonial British Indian Restaurant, told HT.com.