Chennai's Chicken 65 Among World's Top 10 Fried Chicken Dishes

If there’s a dish that can truly do it all, it’s Fried Chicken. As a snack, as a meal, for a celebration or for a cosy night in, there’s no situation when Fried Chicken feels out of place. And unlike many dishes, Fried Chicken doesn’t have a single point of origin, it has a different identity in every corner of the world, a true cultural unifier. To celebrate this spectacular dish, Taste Atlas recently dropped their list of the Top 10 Best Fried Chicken Dishes in the world and India’s very own Chicken 65 has made the cut at number 10.

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Chicken 65 is a fan favourite across India, but it originated in Chennai at a small restaurant called the Buhari Hotel and was created by the founder himself, A.M.Buhari. There are many legends about how the dish got its name. Some say it included 65 unique species, others claim that the chicken was originally cut into 65 pieces to make the dish or made from a chicken that was 65 days old. Another legend states that army officers and soldiers would save time ordering by just pointing at the 65th dish on the menu of the military mess.

Video Credits: Chef Ranveer Brar/YouTube

Though all these stories are charming and fanciful, the generally accepted truth is that Chicken 65 was so named simply because it was invented in the year 1965. Later on, the restaurant also began serving dishes like Chicken 78, 82, and Chicken 90 similarly named after the years they were created.

The Taste Atlas list features 10 Fried Chicken dishes including the classic Southern Fried Chicken, Ukrainian Chicken Kiev, Austrian Backhendl and Taiwanese Chicken Popcorn. The top spot went to Ayam Goreng, an Indonesian dish that’s often enjoyed as a street food or a drinking snack. 

Though many Indonesians in the comments agreed with the choice, there were many who felt that Korean Fried Chicken also deserved a place on the list but there were also some Indians who felt that Chicken 65 had been wrongly credited to Chennai. “Chicken 65 Chennai? Wtf? It's as Hyderabadi as it gets. Don't give Chennai credit for the legendary chicken 65 da!” said one user. It’s clear that everyone wants a claim in the delicious legacy of Chicken 65!