Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain

A couple of years ago we were told that cooking was the new rock'n'roll. If Anthony Bourdain is to be believed, it's the new punk - it's in your face, sharp as a Sabatier knife and it makes no apologies. "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly" is a rollercoaster ride through his career from the lowly days as dishwasher in Provincetown, Cape Cod to the rocky heights of the Rockerfeller Centre's world famous "Rainbow Room". It's a story that sees him travel as far as Tokyo and back to New York again, manage restaurants where he is responsible for everything from the hiring and firing of the waiting staff to creating every dish on ...  Read the complete review

Anthony Bourdain is a chef of some note, apparently, but I have to admit until I read this book, a series of biographical vignettes more than a day by day, year by year biography, I hadn't come across him (Not that I move in many of the circles outlined here). He is also is a published novelist, and I have to say, his fiction is very impressive too! I think the best way to describe this book is to borrow the Guardians quote (used on the cover) which states, 'It's not exactly Delia'. He has worked as everything from a dishwasher in the seamier area of Provincetown to the world famous Rainbow Room of the Rockefeller Centre in New York, with many ...  Read the complete review

If cooking is, to quote numerous lazy journalists, "the new rock & roll", then this is its Led Zeppelin, an awesome, eye-popping juggernaut of a book which blows the lid on what really goes on behind the scenes of the restaurant world. The author, Anthony Bourdain, is currently executive chef at New York's exclusive Brasserie Les Halles, after a varied and frequently tempestuous career which saw him rise through the ranks to become one of the Big Apple's culinary Big Cheeses, and boy does he have some stories to tell. Reading "Kitchen Confidential" brings you face-to-face with more reprobates, criminals, drug addicts, ...  Read the complete review

Of course I jest. I found this book and Tony's tale to be quite fascinating. There is a whole other underground foodie world out there that many of us will never (THANKFULLY) get to know. In many ways this man has lead a very sad life, what with all the drugs and desperate times. They way he describes popping aspirin and other pills is quite alarming. But once you get through all the crap and listen to how restaurants are managed and kitchens are orchestrated to produce the food to the rest of us it is indeed intriguing. Why I said I wished I had never read this book however is because of the confidences (thus the title) which he betrays to his ...  Read the complete review

Kitchen Confidential is a delightful read. The balance between gritty realism and anecdotal humour provides a fantastically enjoyable and fresh perspective of the culinary underbelly. Recommended to me by relatives this book turned out to be superb. Sleep was lost, meals left cold and work undone. The pages contained within the card cover are so easily readable, you will lose track of time. The world of “Chefs”, “Waiters”, “Line Cooks” and “Runners” is not glamorised nor is it berated. It is simply presented for what it is. Myself having no prior knowledge as to the true nature of the backrooms in ...  Read the complete review