English singer Zayn Malik kicked off his seven-night concert residency in Las Vegas on January 20, 2026. With the musical shows coming to a cathartic close recently, the former One Direction star took to his Instagram profile to share an emotional message about the week-long outing in the United States.
Some of his fans especially ended up fawning over the IG post, thanks to the beloved musician’s inadvertent shout-out to a famous Indian restaurant chain. “Desi Pride” took over as fans couldn’t help but melt over the celebrity’s embrace of his own South Asian roots.
Zayn Malik’s farewell to Las Vegas
In his wholehearted attempt to bid farewell to Sin City, Zayn expressed his gratitude to everyone who made the effort to check out his live music performances.
“Vegas! How do I even do justice to the last two weeks with words, it was mind blowing- you are the best fans in the world and I love you whole heartedly,” he captioned the post featuring a carousel of images capturing the essence of his Vegas visit.
“Can not tell you how grateful I am to know that people still give a shit about me and my music. You made this Bradford lad extremely proud and happy. Peace out and big love always.”
Sharing various moments from the memorable international getaway, Malik’s carousel included a picture of a casino, him playing the piano and a lot more. One such Easter egg from the photos particularly grabbed the attention of the ‘Desi’ crowd, upon achieving viral fame on social media.
Fans lose it over Zayn’s unexpected Haldirams US shout-out
The second photo in the carousel featured a door covered with various advertisement posters of the popular Indian multinational fast-food restaurant chain, Haldiram’s. Zayn appeared to have clicked the picture from inside a store.
A sign reading backwards confirmed that the “Pillowtalk” crooner was at India British Market, a grocery store in Las Vegas. However, the Haldiram’s paraphernalia plastered all over the store’s entry door left some fans stunned on X.
“This b**ch is at fu**ing Haldiram’s in VEGAS,” a user tweeted, singling out the image in question in an X post. The post was liked by thousands and viewed by tens of thousands of netizens on the platform at the time of writing, and instantly drew in people of Indian origin.
Quite a few were bewildered to catch a sight of the Indian restaurant in America. “Haldirams in USA?? When???” a user exclaimed in the comments.
Let him be desi in peace 😭😭😭
— dee ✨ (@touchgrass____) February 2, 2026
“Haldirams food is so good that’s the best thing abroad,” confessed another user.
A third commented, “Let him be desi in peace.” Someone else chimed in, “This Diva is Desi lol.” Yet another netizen added, “Let him be desi in peace.”
For the unversed, Zayn Malik’s real name is Zain Javadd Malik. He was born to an immigrant Pakistani father and a British mother in Bradford, England. Sharing British-Pakistani roots, the singer has often name-dropped India in interviews and elsewhere, expressing his desire to perform in the South Asian country.
The X Factor alum has even opened up about wanting to collaborate with Indian maestro AR Rahman and voiced his admiration of Bollywood superstars like Shah Rukh Khan.
As for the Haldiram’s cameo in the United States, the beloved Indian snack company doesn’t necessarily have dedicated restaurant outlets in the US. However, its packaged products and frozen food options are available at Indian-origin grocery stores in the US and other popular grocery stores, in addition to their presence on online retail platforms.