North Korea Unveils Wave of Multi-Story Grills
State media reports over a dozen new beef and ostrich eateries, a move analysts link to Kim Jong Un's push to signal economic progress despite persistent food shortages.
By Amit Ricci ·
North Korean state media announced the opening of more than a dozen new multi-story barbecue restaurants nationwide since September. The establishments feature waterside terraces, marble tabletops with built-in grills, and menus that list beef, pork, and ostrich. The sudden proliferation of dining venues contrasts sharply with the country's long-standing history of food scarcity.
The new venues include a three-story building in Sinuiju, a city on the Chinese border. In northern Kanggye, patrons can drink draft beer next to fish tanks, while an opening ceremony in the west coast city of Nampo featured fireworks. Some locations advertise large floor plans capable of seating hundreds of guests at once. These details have drawn attention to the scale of the regime's latest leisure project.
Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, head of Korean Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, noted that meat serves as a key symbol for the government. He connected the new restaurants to a promise made by Kim Il Sung, the late leader and grandfather of current Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, to provide his citizens with white rice and meat soup. Silberstein suggested the openings demonstrate that such amenities are reaching people outside the capital, Pyongyang.
Hazel Smith, a professorial research associate in Korean Studies at University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, viewed the trend through an economic lens. She said the restaurants indicate that some North Koreans, particularly those in trade and construction, are benefiting from expanding ties with Russia. However, she cautioned that the boom does not prove a thriving economy. "It’s a sign that some people at the moment are able to get by and afford to go out and have a meal now and then," Smith said.
The expansion mirrors other leisure initiatives recently introduced in the North, including water parks, coffee bars, and high-end shopping malls. While Kim Jong Un has not yet appeared in photos at these openings, high-level local officials typically attend. The state media coverage of these events is designed to project an image of growing prosperity across the country.
Underlying data suggests the food supply remains fragile. The UN World Food Programme estimated that 10.7 million North Koreans, or more than 40% of the population, were undernourished in 2022. A recent report from the UN food body indicated that more than two out of every five North Koreans currently suffer from undernourishment. The 1990s famine, which killed hundreds of thousands and forced many to rely on private markets, still shapes the country's food security landscape.
Meat imports from China have surged to meet demand. According to UN Comtrade data, these imports more than quadrupled between 2023 and 2025, reaching nearly $39 million. Joung Eun-lee, director of the North Korean Research Division at the Korea Institute for National Unification, stated that the rising import figures show domestic production cannot keep up. She described the state media coverage of the new grills as a powerful form of propaganda.
Lee Ae-Ran, who defected from North Korea in 1997, now runs a North Korean restaurant in Seoul. She recalled that beef was difficult to obtain because cows were reserved as working animals on farms. She remembered eating at a Pyongyang duck grill where patrons had to pay in foreign currency. "In North Korea, high-end restaurants are only for special classes of people," she said.
