Flushing Restaurateur Will Bring Wildly Popular Chinese Barbecue to Manhattan and Brooklyn

Wildly popular Chinese barbecue restaurants Friendship BBQ and Grill Master are venturing into Manhattan and Brooklyn following success at their original locations in Flushing.

Friendship BBQ, which specializes in Chinese skewers, or chuan’er (串儿) in Mandarin, will arrive in Manhattan’s Chinatown at 103 Bowery, between Hester and Grand streets, in June. And Grill Master will bring its signature Chongqing-style grilled fish soaked in rich broth to 717 61st St., between Seventh and Eighth avenues in Sunset Park, in April.

Both restaurants are part of a restaurant company owned by Lei Chen, who has been working in the New York hospitality industry since 2005. Chen, originally from China, is in the business of serving New Yorkers dishes that are true to Chinese tastes, opening Friendship BBQ three years ago and Grill Master six months ago. While the restaurants have had little English-language press coverage, Chinese expats in the city have been flocking there for a taste of home.

Grill Master [Official]

Chun’er has its origin in street food. In China, people glut themselves with skewers of seasoned meat, veggies, or offals and tank up on beer on sidewalks in cities across the country, especially in the summer. Grill Master centers its menu on spicy grilled fish, a style of cooking that’s newfangled compared to other Sichuan options like mapo tofu or kung pao chicken. At the restaurant, a tray of grilled whole fish comes swimming with vegetables, spices, and chiles in a flavorful broth. Diners can select their choices of fish and vegetables, as well as pick how the fish is grilled.

The restaurants’ menus have so far appealed to Chinese nationals or expats. Beyond ubiquitous ingredients, there are delicacies such as chicken necks and Chinese chives that are not as common in NYC.

Each space will accommodate 70 to 80 customers at a time, a move that Chen hopes will divert hour-long lines at the current Flushing outposts. His restaurants are among a flurry of new Chinese restaurants that are offering a wider range of Chinese cuisines as the number of Chinese immigrants in New York has soared.

Friendship BBQ will be open from 1 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily. Grill Master will be open from 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. daily.

Shen Lu is an English-Chinese bilingual journalist based in New York. She writes about the Chinese diaspora, immigration, gender, and money.