Kitchen Confidential

By: Anthony Bourdain

Narrated by: Anthony Bourdain

Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, read by Anthony Bourdain.

After 25 years of 'sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine', Chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain decided to tell all. From his first oyster in the Gironde to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown; from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable, as shocking as they are funny.

©2000 Anthony Bourdain (P)2000 Penguin Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A compelling book with its intriguing mix of clever writing and kitchen patois...more horrifically gripping than a Stephen King novel." (Sunday Times)

"Fantastic: as lip-smackingly seductive as a bowl of fat chips and pungent aioli." (Daily Telegraph)

"Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino." (A.A. Gill)

An amazing tale of an amazing person

A look into the memorable, beautiful, difficult yet intensely passionate life, of one of the most iconic souls in recent history

A perspective changer

Listening to this I was drawn in with Bourdain’s descriptive yet Frank nature. His words, his tone and his willingness to take it in the chin inspired and assured me that everything is going to be alright. I had an emotional response to the ending knowing that Bourdain was no longer living how his book had inspired. I’m so happy I listened to this instead of reading it. Thank you Anthony Bourdain. ❤️‍🔥

Tony is Brilliant

Amazing as always, anything by Tony is brilliant. Im grateful its read by him. RIP.

Brilliant

This book is as good as they say it is. Hugely entertaining. RIP to the legend.

Your body is not a temple it's an amusement ride.

Or "The invasion of Normandy every day of the week."
I first heard of author, Anthony Bourdain, in a review discussion of his exposé of behind the scenes restaurant life on BBC Radio Four over twenty years ago. Two days later I bought and read Kitchen Confidential, and was totally blown away. I bought copies for family members, bored anyone who'd listen with excerpts and advice from the book, then started on a succession of other cook's tales, but none was as funny, scary, evocative as that by Bourdain. He remained an hero throughout the years to come. His recent, sad departure from this world prompted me to read the book again but this time literally in his own voice as he is also the narrator. And if I thought it breathtaking before, well, he really has to be heard to be believed.

His full bodied, pleasant voice, warmed like honey, wry amusement always present, reads quickly almost not bothering to take a breath. Long streams of invective, description, drugs, people flash past, creating a visual animated queue.
He has advice to give - don't eat the fish dishes on Monday, and if the lavatories are dirty the kitchen will be worse - and tips to easily make restaurant style food at home - if you are unsure which will cave in first, your pan or the head of the person you are hitting, throw away the pan. He advocates the use of shallots and garlic, but never that put through the 'abomination' of a garlic press, and he doesn't have much fondness for vegetarians, other than the large charge he can make, if they insist in eating in his restaurant, from a couple of artistically placed vegetables. He has so many funny anecdotes about others in his trade, and his own rather checkered biography in the food world from the adventurous kid who'd eat the freshly caught raw oysters, to his running the kitchens at the Supper Club, placing meat orders each day of $10,000. But for me, the best section of it all is following a day of service in the kitchen, frantic action just as frantically recounted. At the end of the chapter, just listening, I was exhausted!
Bourdain was a man so full of life, of fun, determination and of experiencing all he could, and, boy. does this book reflect it. Great in print, even better as an Audio, this is a must read for anyone interested in cooking, in food, in restaurants, in different lives, in sex and drugs and rock 'n roll, in comedic anecdotes and in living life to its fullest every minute. Bourdain might be gone but still lives large on every page of this amazing book.

Having just listened to Marco Pierre White's autobiography, I decided again to return to Bourdain's tales of life as a Chef, my fourth reading now, and still as good as first time around. It was so wonderful to hear his brilliant narration, too, a voice to remember. A voice filled with his love of life, his life and all it's imperfections, the people he'd worked with, be they good, bad or quirky. So full of humour and the enjoyment of discovery. How different from the coldness and self obsession of White.

If there is anyone who still has not read his book, get it now and enjoy. A great read in print but oh so much better in audio

Brilliant storytelling with the voice of the maestro Chef, author, storyteller

Anthony Bourdain gives us a raw portrait of his life as a chef, from scrubbing floors and pots and pans to running and flopping multiple businesses - he’s a gifted and natural storyteller and his narration makes it so much more real. A pity he’s not around for round two. What a loss.