The legacy of the hotel traces back to 1951 when a former sheriff of Madras, AM Buhari, while in Colombo completing his studies, discovered his love for the culinary arts.
He returned to India and started the Buhari Hotel eatery in Chennai. Through Buhari Hotel, he began crafting a menu that would bring people together.
While the menu featured a long list of items, the soldiers — regulars at the messes in Chennai — did not always have the luxury of time to browse through.
The dilemma of choosing between dishes was compounded by the language barrier.
So, we can only assume that one soldier sampled the crunchy chicken starter at number 65 on the menu, loved it, and word soon spread.
Soon, everyone wanted ‘Chicken 65’, a name that stayed in the common lexicon. Chicken 65 was loved by all. And the passage of time hasn’t dulled its popularity one bit.