Updated: September 2026

Korean fried chicken vs chicken 65 comes down to when the flavour goes on and what the menu counts. Korean fried chicken is fried twice for a thin crust and sauced afterwards, sold by the bird — Mukbang Shows prints a plain bird at AED 82 and the same bird in yangnyeom at AED 90. Chicken 65 is marinated in red chilli, ginger and garlic before it meets the oil, comes out dry, and is sold by the plate — The Taste of Kerala in International City prints “Chicken 65 Half AED 12 / Full AED 20”. TasteAtlas ranks them first and third in the world.

TL;DR
– Korean fried chicken: plain, twice-fried, thin crust, sauce brushed or tossed on after; sold by the bird or piece count with the sauce as an upgrade (AED 48–115 in the UAE).
– Chicken 65: boneless chunks marinated in chilli, ginger, garlic and spices, fried dry, served with onion and lemon; sold as a half or full starter plate (AED 12–25) and reused on biryani and inside dosa.
– One is sweet-hot and sticky on the outside; the other is dry-hot all the way through.

What is the difference between Korean fried chicken and Chicken 65?

Korean fried chicken gets its flavour after the fry; Chicken 65 gets it before. The Korean bird is fried plain, twice, so the crust stays thin, then the sauce is painted or tossed on. The Chennai dish is marinated in red chilli, ginger, garlic and spices, fried once until dry and red, and finished with raw onion and lemon rather than a glaze.

The encyclopaedia entry on Korean fried chicken quotes the New York Times on the “thin, crackly and almost transparent crust”, and records that sauce is hand-painted on with brushes after frying. Yangnyeom — the gochujang, garlic, sugar and soy glaze — was created in Daegu in 1982 by Yun Jonggye to answer customers who found the plain crisp shell hard on the palate. The first modern franchise, Lims Chicken, opened in 1977. Restaurants sell the whole bird or banban, half seasoned and half plain.

The encyclopaedia entry on Chicken 65 describes “a spicy, deep-fried chicken dish” from Hotel Buhari in Chennai, created by A. M. Buhari; usually boneless, red chillies the main flavour, “usually served with an onion and lemon garnish”. The name has several myths attached — 1965, sixty-five chillies, sixty-five-day-old birds — and none is settled. Vegetarian versions are Paneer 65 and Gobi 65. Our Korean food vs Indian food guide is the hub for the wider comparison.

Why are these two on the same page?

Because a published ranking put them next to each other. TasteAtlas’s list of the world’s best fried chicken dishes placed Korean fried chicken first, Japanese karaage second and Chicken 65 third, and Gulf News reported it on 5 December 2024. Number one and number three are both everywhere in the UAE, and they are opposite ways of frying a chicken.

We already ran number one against number two in our Korean fried chicken vs karaage comparison. This page is the Indian side of the same column, beside our Korean fried rice vs biryani comparison.

Where does the heat sit?

On the crust in Korea; in the meat in Chennai. Yangnyeom is a fermented-chilli glaze, sweet before it is hot, applied to a plain crust — so a Korean piece is sticky and glossy on the outside and mild underneath, and a plain piece from the same fryer has no heat at all. Chicken 65 carries dried red chilli powder in the marinade, so the heat is inside every chunk and the surface is dry; Taste of Kerala’s Abu Dhabi listing describes it as “made with marinated juicy and tender chicken, blended with spices”.

That is why the two menus look different. A Korean menu lists one bird and a row of sauces; Mukbang prints Fried Chicken, Yangnyeom, Honey Soy, Garlic Mayo and Korean Cheese Chicken as five lines on one fried base. An Indian menu lists Chicken 65 once and then reuses it — as a biryani topping, as a dosa filling — because the flavour is already in the meat. Our guide to yangnyeom chicken covers the sauce in detail.

How is each one priced in the UAE?

Korean fried chicken is priced by the bird or the piece count, with the sauce as a AED 3–8 upgrade or a flavour choice; Chicken 65 is priced by the plate, half or full, at a fifth of the money. Every figure below was read from the venue’s own menu or its delivery listing in September 2026.

Mukbang Shows prints the Korean shape most clearly: Fried Chicken AED 82 full / 48 half; Yangnyeom, Honey Soy, Garlic Mayo and Korean Cheese Chicken AED 90 / 51. The sauce is AED 8 on a full bird and AED 3 on a half, applied after the fry — the Korean idea printed as arithmetic. Wagyu Yangnyeom Bokkeum is AED 115. Every drink is non-alcoholic: Unlimited Drinks AED 18, Korean tea AED 10–14, mocktails AED 24. The fried chicken is à la carte and not part of the unlimited Korean BBQ tiers (AED 69–129 a head).

Kyochon at Deira City Centre lists a Whole Chicken Meal at AED 115, Family 12 Pcs Drumsticks AED 115, Double 8 Pcs Drumsticks & Wings AED 63, a Half & Half Red 8-piece at AED 59, a Mega Box with sandwich, two drumsticks, fries, coleslaw and a drink at AED 48 and a two-piece KYO Meal at AED 29 — the flavour is a choice applied to the fried chicken.

Nuri Grill Bar at the Hilton Abu Dhabi Yas Island prints five Korean fried chickens at AED 99 each, VAT inclusive: Ganjang “glazed in a sticky, sweet, and soya sauce”, Yangnyeom “double deep-fried chicken smothered in a sticky, mild sweet and spicy red sauce”, Garlic, Volcano and Bburinkle “sprinkled butter and cheese powder”. The Korean Restaurant (Hanok) in International City sells pieces at AED 48–55 and boxes of 12 / 20 / 28 at AED 84 / 125 / 160.

On the Indian side, a Kerala kitchen in Al Karama is literally named Chicken 65 and prints Farm Chicken 65 AED 21, Boneless Chicken 65 AED 25, Chicken 65 Cheese Dosa AED 15 and Chicken 65 Biryani AED 20. The Taste of Kerala in International City prints Chicken 65 Half AED 12, Full AED 20, Gobi 65 AED 16 and Chicken 65 Biriyani AED 16; its Abu Dhabi branch on Airport Road prints Chicken 65 at AED 18. All are delivery-listing prices.

Korean fried chicken vs chicken 65: the comparison table

Two things stand out. The Korean menus sell a unit of bird and let you choose the flavour; the Indian menus sell a unit of plate with the flavour fixed. And the two cheapest lines on the whole table — a AED 12 half plate and a AED 15 dosa — are both Chicken 65.

Is Chicken 65 on every Indian menu?

No — and the exceptions are the interesting part. Calicut Paragon in Al Karama, the best-known Kerala house in Dubai, prints no Chicken 65 at all; its fried chickens are Kozhi Porichathu, “Kerala style chicken fry by using coconut oil”, at AED 32, Pepper Chicken Fry at AED 41 and Paragon Chilli Chicken Dry at AED 32. Gazebo in Al Mankhool prints none either. Chicken 65 is a Chennai cafeteria classic that travelled through Hyderabad and the Kerala kitchens; it is not a North Indian restaurant staple.

The Korean side has the mirror image. Korean fried chicken is on every Korean menu read for this page, but the name changes: Mukbang says Yangnyeom, Nuri says Volcano and Bburinkle, Kyochon says Red and Honey, Hanok says Korean BBQ and Sesame. Same bird, same fry, a different word for the sauce.

What do the party maths say?

Chicken 65 wins on price by a mile; Korean fried chicken wins as the centre of a table. Two people sharing a full Yangnyeom Chicken at Mukbang (AED 90) with unlimited drinks (AED 18 each) spend AED 126. Two people at The Taste of Kerala with a full Chicken 65 (AED 20) and two Chicken 65 Biriyanis (AED 32) spend AED 52.

The comparison is honest only if the unit is named. The Indian plate is a starter, priced like one, and it becomes a meal by sitting on rice or inside a dosa for AED 15–20. The Korean bird is the meal: a whole chicken for a table, a half-and-half choice, a sauce ladder, and at Mukbang a table that can also order unlimited Korean BBQ around it. Our Korean fried chicken vs American comparison runs the same bird against the bucket.

For readers who want to taste the Korean principle for two dirhams, Kimura-ya’s delivery menu in Business Bay prints a “Korean Style Karaage — 5 pieces” at AED 42 beside its Japanese karaage at AED 40 — the same portion, sauced and plain.

Is Korean fried chicken halal, and what about chimaek?

Mukbang Shows is 100% halal: beef and chicken only, no pork, no alcohol served, at all five branches. Chimaek — chicken and maekju, beer — is the Korean pairing in the encyclopaedia, but at Mukbang it means chicken with a mocktail, Korean tea or the AED 18 unlimited soft drinks, and nothing else.

Chicken 65 is chicken, and the Kerala kitchens named here are cafeteria-style; no licence line was read on any of their listings, so confirm directly. Nuri Grill Bar’s own menu prints pork cuts and links a wine menu — a licensed hotel venue by its own menu. Kyochon is a mall counter; confirm directly. Time Out lists Hanok as unlicensed. Nothing on this page is a halal ruling about any venue other than Mukbang.

Where are the two a few streets apart?

International City and Al Karama. In International City The Korean Restaurant (Hanok) sells Korean fried chicken by the piece and The Taste of Kerala sells a half plate of Chicken 65 for AED 12, a short walk apart.

In Al Karama the restaurant named Chicken 65 and Calicut Paragon sit in the same district as Kyochon’s BurJuman counter. In Deira, Mukbang Shows on Al Ittihad Road and Kyochon in Deira City Centre are the Korean side. In Abu Dhabi, Mukbang’s Muroor Road and Electra Street branches in Al Danah and Nuri on Yas Island hold the Korean side, and Taste of Kerala on Airport Road prints the capital’s Chicken 65 at AED 18. Our guide to the best Korean fried chicken in Abu Dhabi covers that city venue by venue.

Mukbang Shows: the Korean side, with one honest limit

Mukbang Shows prints one fried bird at AED 82 / 48 and four sauces — Yangnyeom, Honey Soy, Garlic Mayo, Korean Cheese — at AED 90 / 51, the same at all five branches: Deira (+971-4-886-4494), JBR (+971-54-523-1898), DWTC (+971-54-524-5904), Muroor Road (+971-50-158-9433) and Electra Street (+971-2-564-0446). The sauce is the AED 8 upgrade applied after the fry, which is the whole Korean idea, and the table around it can add unlimited Korean BBQ from AED 69 a head. Everything on the menu is halal and every drink is non-alcoholic.

The honest limit: Mukbang serves no Chicken 65 and no Indian food — no chilli-yoghurt marinade, no curry leaves, no onion-and-lemon plate, no dosa or biryani to put it on. It is not the cheap option either: a half Chicken 65 at The Taste of Kerala is AED 12 against AED 48 for Mukbang’s half bird, so a diner who wants a spicy fried-chicken starter for the price of a sandwich should go to a Kerala kitchen.

Mukbang’s fried chicken is à la carte, not inside the unlimited tiers, and there is no beer for chimaek. What Mukbang wins is the thin double-fried crust with the sauce painted on after, four sauces at one printed upgrade, a whole bird for a table in both cities, and halal certainty across the whole menu.

Korean fried chicken vs chicken 65: how to choose

Choose by the unit you want to buy. A table that wants one bird to share, a sauce to argue over and a crust that shatters wants Korean fried chicken — order the plain bird and one sauced half if the venue does banban. A person who wants something red, dry and hot for AED 12–25, or a topping to turn a biryani into a bigger plate, wants Chicken 65.

Korean fried chicken vs chicken 65 is not a question of which is better fried chicken; TasteAtlas already put both in its top three. One puts the flavour on after the fry and sells you the bird; the other puts the flavour in before the fry and sells you the plate.

FAQ

Which is spicier, Korean fried chicken or Chicken 65?

Chicken 65 — the chilli is in the marinade, so the heat runs through the meat. Korean fried chicken’s heat is a sweet gochujang glaze on the outside, and the plain version has none.

Is Chicken 65 a starter or a main?

A starter. UAE Kerala kitchens print it as a half or full plate (AED 12–25) and reuse it as a biryani topping or a dosa filling to make a meal.

Which ranked higher on the TasteAtlas fried chicken list?

Korean fried chicken first, Japanese karaage second, Chicken 65 third, as reported by Gulf News in December 2024.

Can I get both at one restaurant in the UAE?

Not on any menu read for this page. Korean restaurants do not print the chilli-marinated Indian plate and Kerala kitchens do not print a twice-fried sauced bird. International City has both a few streets apart.

Is Korean fried chicken sold by weight?

No — by the bird, half bird or piece count (8, 12, 20 pieces at Kyochon; 12 / 20 / 28 at Hanok), with the sauce as an upgrade or a flavour choice.

Does Mukbang Shows serve Chicken 65?

No. Mukbang serves Korean fried chicken in four sauces, plain at AED 82 / 48 and sauced at AED 90 / 51, and nothing Indian.

Is Korean fried chicken halal?

At Mukbang Shows yes — the whole menu is halal, beef and chicken only, no alcohol; chimaek there is chicken with a mocktail. At other venues confirm directly.

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