If the number of biryani outlets in a certain city was a yardstick of its obsession with the dish, Chennai would be a top contender. On second thoughts, it might even take home the prize.
This claim is backed by a conversation that C Y Aasife Ahmed, MD, Aasife Biriyani Pvt Ltd, a non-vegetarian outlet in Chennai synonymous with its lip-smacking biryani had with The New Indian Express. “I am certain that right now, there are a minimum of 30 small or big biryani restaurants in every pin code in Chennai. Take 130 pin codes and multiply them by 30 and you get almost 4,000 biryani shops operating in the city.”
With a maze of Chennai biryani spots to head to, which one are you going to pick? That’s where we step in.
1. Kappa Chakka Kandhari
Naturally, if you aimed to feast on the best biryani in Chennai, you’d look for a seasoned expert. While researching for this piece, I went down a rabbit hole and was fascinated to discover that the trio behind Kappa Chakka Kandhari (KCK) — Chef Regi Mathew, John Paul and Augustine Kurian — had spoken to over 200 home chefs across Kerala and armed themselves with a repository of nearly 800 recipes before they finalised the ones that would make the final cut to the menu at KCK.
In July 2018, when the trio launched the Chennai branch of KCK, their biryanis immediately hit it off with their customers.
Ashwin Rajagopalan, a lifestyle writer shared his love for the biryani here with Condé Nast.
“Kappa Chakka Kandhari (KCK) serves Kerala’s Thalassery biryani which is true to its style. It is probably one of the best biryani in Chennai for me, as it’s faithful to the original thing that you get in Kerala.”
2. Ambur Star Biryani
Whoever has sampled the biryani at this legendary outlet has been smitten.
The story traces back to 1890 when biryani legend Hussain Baig developed a secret recipe in his home and began selling it. Fame followed and peaked in 1920. In 1927, his son, Khurshid Baig, took the biryanis to the town bazaar to sell them and went on to open a hotel. Today, the ‘Star Biryani’ outlet on the Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway continues to amass a huge fan following.
The meal at Ambur Star Biryani goes beyond a simple dinner; it is a feast for the senses. Exchange pleasantries with the fragrant short-grained rice before you move on to uncover the meats underneath. The ambur biryani has been hailed for its distinct flavour profile, which owes to the star anise and stone flower ingredients.
3. Buhari
Known as the birthplace of the iconic Chicken 65, Buhari on Mount Road, Chennai, has attracted a broad spectrum of guests since its inception in 1951. It has carved a niche for itself as a fine dining eatery that combined the eliteness of British restaurants with the flavours of Indian dishes.
Started by A M Buhari, a former Sheriff of Madras, Buhari made its mark as the first restaurant to open in a post-independent Madras. But, as the website points out, the range of meat dishes and the biryani were not its sole iconic features. Apparently, Buhari was the first hotel to have a jukebox that regaled guests with hits such as ‘Dum Maro Dum’ and other popular numbers.
4. Sukkubhai Biryani
Until 1975, Chennai experienced an influx of migrants who came to the city seeking jobs in mineral-based industries. Among them was a gentleman named Abdul Khadar. As the eatery’s website narrates the story, “He travelled from Nagapattinam to Chennai by foot in the year 1955 in search of work and better living conditions to provide for and develop his young family.” Eventually, the family settled in Alandur, Chennai.
What started out as a menu with parottas (layered flatbread), sizzling paaya (a dish made from the trotters of a cow or goat), and kebabs (meat cooked on skewers) witnessed a new addition in 1977 when the beef biryani took centre stage. Hailed as a great biryani shop in Chennai, the eatery continues to be run by Abdul Khader Ali, Khadar’s son.
5. Dindigul Thalappakatti
Guests who flocked to the restaurant (then Anandha Vilas Biriyani Hotel) in Dindigul around 1957, were taken up by two things — the solid flavours here and the owner’s disposition. Nagasamy Naidu, dressed in traditional South Indian attire complete with a thalapa (traditional headdress) — which is also where the restaurant gets its name — believed that making Chennai biryani was a sacred process.
Only the best quality ingredients, freshly pounded masalas, and seeraga samba rice (parakkum sittu) were deemed fit to find their way into the dish.
Naidu would also go to great lengths to ensure that the meats were obtained from cattle markets of Kannivadi and Paramathi, and would prepare each batch of biryani himself. As the website notes, the eatery was often flocked to by politicians, chief ministers of South India, cinema legends and even legendary Indian actor Sivaji Ganesan.
6. The Wedding Biryani
An unusual name you’d think at first glance. But as founder Nawaz Mohamed points out, the eatery serves 3,000 customers every day. “That’s like catering to 10 weddings every day,” he writes on the website. The Wedding Biryani’s story is rooted in a conversation that Mohammed, a hotelier, had with his family at dinner one day.
The topic: Why are the biryanis at Tamil Muslim weddings so good?
Some probing and further conversation led him to discover that it was the traditional firewood cooking techniques that held the secret. So, why wait for one of your Muslim friends to get married? Mohammed urges. Just order yourself some Chennai biryani from the menu! Add mutton nalli chops and pomfret pozhichadhu (pan-fried fish) to your order.
7. Junior Kupanna
Far off the tourist trail, you will come across this biryani shop in Chennai city that specialises in Kongu regional cuisine. The cuisine is famous for its use of traditional cooking methods and ingredients such as cereals, milk and dry coconut.
Fun fact: The use of indigenous ingredients and generous helpings of oil differentiate Kongu dishes from Chettinad ones. The latter prides itself on its spice quotient.
Though the eatery was started in 1960 by Thiru Kuppusamy & Thirumati Rukmini Amma the brand has travelled far and wide to put Kongu cuisine on the world map.
The website, narrating the tale of the brand growing to fame from humble beginnings, says that Kuppusamy was a table cleaner for a decade at a hotel near Erode before starting an eatery of his own in 1958. This said eatery saw many South Indian icons and even former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa.
The magic is retained to date at the place where you can sample all kinds of South Indian fare.
Edited by Padmashree Pande.
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