Butter chicken wars: who does Delhi’s signature dish best? Everyone has their opinion

India’s capital is synonymous with butter chicken, and its residents have strong opinions on which restaurant serves the best and what makes the perfect version

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Butter chicken at Havemore, a Delhi restaurant founded in 1959 that has won awards for its rendition of the Indian capital’s signature dish. We look at this and other restaurants in the city vying for butter chicken supremacy. Photo: Siddharth Khandelwal.

Reem Khokhar

Published: 11:15am, 14 Apr 2024

Vikas Chhabra ate butter chicken for the first time as a young boy, and was immediately hooked on the velvety gravy and succulent pieces of chicken.

The dish has since featured prominently at family outings and special occasions. But it is not just any butter chicken that Chhabra, 52, likes.

The textile business owner has tasted the dish at various Delhi restaurants, but none comes close to the decadent creaminess of his favourite version, served at New Minar, in south Delhi’s affluent Greater Kailash neighbourhood.

“For me, this is the best butter chicken in the city,” says Chhabra, who, like many in the Indian capital, has strong opinions on the dish.

Butter chicken at Ikk Panjab, a Delhi restaurant that showcases the food of Punjab before it was split between India and Pakistan in 1947. Photo: Siddharth Khandelwal

Globally renowned it may be, but Delhi is where butter chicken originated. It is widely available across a spectrum of restaurants and the question “Who makes Delhi’s best butter chicken?” always elicits spirited debate, the variety of responses testament to the fact that the city is spoiled for choice.

Recently, the dish has been in the media spotlight, with two Delhi restaurants in a legal dispute over its origin.