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Our friend Anthony Bourdain is surely a unique character. He is an honest and down-to earth guy – fully respectful of other cultures or traditions – yet he speaks out his mind if something is horrible or brackish.
They don’t call him “Rogue Chef” for nothing.
And he is practically a living Nomad. He enjoys to travel around the world, trying out new foods and shooting a travel show, compared to standing in a kitchen 14 hours a day, 110 degrees, making 300 meals.
Simpatico!
Too bad his show “No reservations” on the Travel & Living Channel is currently over – I very much enjoyed watching his trips and culinary adventures around our planet. Can’t wait for the reiterations to start!
If you’ve seen the show as well, you probably know that Tony has a fond and weak side for everything Asian. He comes here very often, has plenty of friends around the region and of course loves to indulge in Asian food. He even mentioned that he would probably retire in Bali when it’s time.
After all he enjoys to eat Babi Guling here as much as the guy next door.
For the release of his new book No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach
It offers surprising insights into the man itself; as he speaks about his 6-month-old daughter, his previous heroin addiction, the popularity of “No Reservations” in Asia, the increasing TV competition and how it is – getting older.
Guess where does he thinks the most food-obsessed people live?
Italy?
Nahhh…
The answer is Singapore.
I wasn’t surprised about that. After all, food and eating is a way of life in Singapore. You can chat up any girl, guy or your boss by starting to talk about food. Every building or shopping mall has a food court attached to it with a mix of local and foreign dishes on offer. There are even food-religious wars between office teams ongoing, on where to buy the best Chicken Rice in town. Isn’t Chicken Rice just cooked or grilled chicken and simple white rice?
Hah – don’t tell that to a Singaporean!
Singaporeans go a great length to explore their own and foreign food, they would waste a 30 dollar Taxi fare just to just get the cheapest (and best) Laksa for 3 bucks in town.
And they do it for a good reason. Some say, Singapore is too small, too clean, too regulated – but there is no doubt that they are truly passionate about their food and that you can get the best Asian and international cuisine here for the lowest prices. Thanks to the food stall culture!
Don’t get me wrong: you can dine here first class on the best culinary luxuries as well – or you can have your Chicken Rice for 3 or 50 dollars – simply depending on the venue and the Chef, who creates it.
Whenever I’m in Singapore I roam the streets of Chinatown or Little India, to fill my stomach with delicious Masalas, Korma Chicken, barbecued Stingray, Dim Sum, Tandoori dishes, Chili or Black Pepper Crab. It helped that I lived 3 years in Chinatown, close to Lau Pa Sat food market, which saw me as a frequent patron.
Asian food makes your day
Anthony mentioned as well the craziness of Vietnamese cooks and the food fetish of the Japanese.
Just writing about it makes my mouth watery again. To cure that I will take up the tip of Mon from one of his previous comments, to write more about the cuisines and exotic foods of the different regions I visited. If you want to help me with that, I’m open for tips and suggestions on where to start and what not to forget.
Anyway – make sure you don’t miss out that Anthony Bourdain interview mentioned above.
And here is another interesting read, a bit older online Chat Session with Tony, where Asia plays a big part as well.
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December 4th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
I loved that show and I also loved some of his books. I wouldn’t try a lot of the stuff he does, so I can live vicariously through him.
December 7th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Filipinos greet each other by sayoing, “Kumain ka na? (Have you eaten yet?)
December 8th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Ahhhh! I just noticed that the new season of ‘No reservations’ will be shown on Travel & Living Channel on Sundays starting from tomorrow onwards at 10pm in Asia (GMT +8).
That’s certainly good news for Anthony Bourdain Fans! =D>
December 10th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
In my taste Indonesia traditional food is the best (very delicous and cheap too). Every place in Indonesia have a lot of unique food. And for muslim a lot of that food is halal so no need to worry (except for some place like Bali, Papua, North Sumatera, Manado, and chinese town in some city).
My favorite food is from Palembang if you like food based by fish you must try Palembang food like Pempek, Celimpungan, Burgo, Laksa, Model, Tekwan etc.
Beside Palembang I am also like sundanese food especially Kupat Tahu Padalarang…
Unfortunately a lot of foreigner just think Indonesia food only Nasi Goreng, Soto Ayam, Padang and Bali food.
But yeah for some traditional food that not very famous (even for Indonesian) it’s difficult to find.. :((
December 16th, 2007 at 7:20 am
I love Asian food. If you are in China, don’t ask what you are eating…just enjoy it. You may spoil your appetite. ;)
December 16th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
[…] mentioned earlier – people around the world love and crave for Asian food. Let’s start to introduce some of the […]
December 16th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Started today by introducing Javanese Food here. I know Palembeng food, Andi Vicki. Unfortunately I can’t eat too much of it – seafood I mean. My body is probably just too sensitive. Like Laksa though, I loooove coconut! :D
digitalnomad, yup – Chinese Food can be very delicious. I tried plenty of dishes in Singapore, which is truly a food heaven. Very good quality, tasty and reasonable priced. Tried dog, cat, snake as well – but decided not to continue eating those. ;)
Still I prefer to know what I eat, those shows on TV (“Bizarre Foods” or others) always give me the creeps.
December 27th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
[…] became a bit lazy and spent more time offline than posting here. Fair enough? Still the post about Anthony Bourdain and his passion for Asian food attracted plenty of readers, while another post from November is still going strong: The Psychic, […]
January 7th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
What abot Bobby Chin who own a restaurant in Vietnam and Andrew Zimern all fo those guys also pretty much dealing with food to make a living, what a nice job huh…cheers bro…
July 7th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Wow – another bunch of Bourdain junkies! I love his shows, too.
How about writing a post about your top ten foods in the region? I, for one, would love to hear about your favourites…
July 7th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Great idea, Epicurienne. That’s something I will probably post soon, then everyone can add his/her own favorites as well. Thanks!
July 24th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
[…] which is very affordable and popular in Indonesia. This one is about famous chef and Asian foodie Anthony Bourdain, who has cravings for delicious, unhealthy and heavy pork meat as well. And yep, I still owe our […]
August 13th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
I think someone on a back street in China could take a crap on a plate and tell him it is a delicacy and he would rave about it’s simple earthy goodness and bemoan the fact that you can’t get good **** like this in the US.
August 14th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
But why should anyone, Bob? Anthony Bourdain is the nicest and most social character I know on those TV-Chef-Kitchen shows. He is mainly fairly and tells it how it is. Sure, even mediocre food tastes better with friendly people around, while even the best food can become stale with arrogant or aggressive sales tactics. So for me – Anthony Bourdain rules, but if you don’t like him, it’s easy enough – just don’t watch it!