Japan’s Best Fried Chicken Restaurant Hasn’t Changed Its Oil in 66 Years

A small restaurant in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, has attracted international attention with an extraordinary claim: the oil behind its award-winning fried chicken has been maintained since the business opened in 1960.

But Wakatori is not serving food from an untouched vat of six-decade-old grease. Its method involves preserving part of an inherited oil blend, filtering it and continually introducing fresh oil—a distinction that changes the story considerably.