Cafe and restaurant in Hindi
A table, the menu, what you cannot eat, and a compliment to the kitchen. Play the ten Hindi words against the clock, with a note on how locals really use each one after every answer. All ten are written out below.
All 10 Hindi phrases in this lesson
- दो लोगों के लिए टेबलdoh LO-gon kay li-yeh TAY-bal
- A table for two
- मेन्यू दीजिएMEN-yoo DEE-ji-yeh
- The menu, please
- आप क्या सुझाएँगे?aap kya su-JHAA-en-gay
- What do you recommend?
- मैं ... नहीं खाताmain ... na-HEEN KHAA-ta
- I don't eat...
- मुझे ... से एलर्जी हैmu-JHAY ... say E-lar-jee hai
- I'm allergic to...
- मांसmaans
- Meat
- चिकनCHI-kan
- Chicken
- मछलीMACH-lee
- Fish
- बहुत स्वादिष्ट हैba-HUT swaa-DISHT hai
- It's delicious
- चियर्स!CHEERS
- Cheers
Or hold up two fingers, universally understood. Indian restaurants seat fast and serve faster; lingering over a finished meal is fine, nobody rushes you out.
Menus mark veg with a green dot and non-veg with a red/brown one, a system so useful the rest of the world should adopt it. "Pure veg" restaurants serve no meat or eggs at all.
A woman says खाती (KHAA-tee). Many restaurants are fully vegetarian; look for the green dot on menus.
On menus, "non-veg" covers all meat. Mutton usually means goat.
The Hindi मुर्गा (MUR-ga) is also used.
The textbook compliment. Street version: "mast hai!" (mast hai), it is awesome, or Mumbai's beloved "ekdum jhakaas", borrowed from Marathi. Any of them makes the cook glow.
India toasts in English. Note that alcohol culture varies wildly by state: Goa is easy, Gujarat and Bihar are dry states. The chai toast needs no license and no word at all.