What does “yidali mian” mean in Chinese?

Mandarin distinguishes Chinese noodles from imported pasta with a transparent compound: 意大利面 (yìdàlì miàn), “Italy noodle.” 面 (miàn) is the general word for any noodle, and Chinese builds the imported variant by stacking the country name in front. The same pattern handles other foreign foods: 日式拉面 (“Japanese-style ramen”), 韩式拌饭 (“Korean-style bibimbap”), 美式咖啡 (“American-style coffee”). The country-prefix construction lets Mandarin keep its native vocabulary intact while still naming foreign dishes precisely.

In this clip, a Mandarin speaker visits an Indian restaurant and notices something odd: “我點了一個印度炒麵... 我發現他們用了義大利麵” (“I ordered Indian fried noodles... I noticed they used Italian pasta”). The mismatch becomes the joke.