Chennai features in 2nd place in National Geographic’s top 10 food cities list

Love for Chennai is in the air. After being featured in Lonely Planet’s ‘list of 10 best places to visit in 2015’, Chennai has been named one of the ‘hottest’ cities of the year by BBC’s travel section.

Recently, the city had made it to another list — National Geographic’s top 10 food cities. The list, first published in the National Geographic book, The World’s Best Cities , also features Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Osaka in Japan, and Ensenada in Mexico.

‘Chicken 65 is to India’s restaurants what buffalo wings are to the United States. It is widely believed that India’s spicy, deep-fried chicken starter was invented at Chennai’s Buhari Hotel by the hotel’s founder and possibly named after the number of chillies in the original recipe,’ says the National Geographic list, on which Chennai occupies second place, after Louisville, Kentucky.

But Chennai’s food lovers say chicken 65 is not the only unique thing about the city’s cuisine.

“From being extremely conservative about food, Chennai has suddenly jumped on to the world’s food map. Not only does it offer authentic south Indian food, it also has room for international cuisines and modern versions of traditional food. Experimentation is big. Chennaiites are willing to experiment with their food and so are restaurateurs. Even our idiyappam and kothu parotta are being re-interpreted,” says Doc Waz, author of popular blog Chennai Foody . Food festivals, too, are on the rise.

Talking about the recent spate of new restaurants — Basil With a Twist, started by a Serbian, and French bistro L’Amandier, for instance — and the growing market for sushi, he says these places are constantly crowded, as there is a huge demand for new food.

M. Mahadevan, chairman and managing director, Oriental Cuisines, believes it is Chennai’s intrinsic link with curry and the global craze for curry that has made the city a hotspot.

“Curry is the fastest selling item at many restaurants abroad. In fact, the powder is sold in many places as ‘Madras curry powder’. Restaurants too are beginning to use spices like turmeric, and spicy food is now being recommended for health reasons. Since Madras and curry go together, Chennai is now emerging as a food destination internationally,” he says.

The explosive rise of home-grown Chennai brands such as Saravana Bhavan and Anjappar in the United States, Europe and elsewhere has also led to huge popularisation of south Indian food — both vegetarian and non-vegetarian — abroad, says Mr. Mahadevan.

“As international brands are entering the city, our own brands too, are getting competitive. Many more of their branches are opening, and they are as crowded as fast food joints and other places,” he says.

From fish on the beach to barbecued meat and the ever-popular dosa, Chennai’s mix of food is what makes it special, says Gopalapuram resident and food lover Mothi Chandrika.