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Kitchen Confidential

25th Anniversary Edition

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Kitchen Confidential

By: Anthony Bourdain, Irvine Welsh - introduction
Narrated by: Anthony Bourdain, Irvine Welsh - introduction
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About this listen

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

The classic bestseller from the star of Parts Unknown and No Reservations: 25th Anniversary edition, with a new introduction written and read by Irvine Welsh.

BEFORE THERE WAS THE BEAR, THERE WAS BOURDAIN.

‘Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino’ A.A. Gill
‘Fantastic: as lip-smackingly seductive as a bowl of fat chips and pungent aioli’ Daily Telegraph

After twenty-five years of sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine, chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain decided to tell all – and he meant all.

From his first oyster in the Gironde as a child, 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.

Kitchen Confidential will make your mouth water and your belly ache with laughter and leave you wanting more.

‘Compelling … with its intriguing mix of clever writing and kitchen patois … more horrifically gripping than a Stephen King novel’ Sunday Times

‘Extraordinary … written with a clarity and a clear-eyed wit to put the professional food-writing fraternity to shame’ Observer©2000 Anthony Bourdain (P)2000 Penguin Random House Audio
Culinary Adventures Professionals & Academics Funny Inspiring Thought-Provoking Witty Suspenseful Chef

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All stars
Most relevant
I never would have expected this to be the most binge worthy book I've read. I could've listened 8 hours straight if I didn't have to charge my earphones and eat some lunch.
A wonderfully interesting insight in to the culinary world from a great man.
Rip Tony

Finished this book in 2 sittings.

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I’ve admired Tony Bourdain’s writing since KC first came out 20 odd years ago. I’ve listened and read everything he’s written (including his book on Typhoid Mary) and loved it all. His writing is elegant, witty and so so so descriptive. In KC his own weaknesses and personal integrity are described beautifully along with the life of a piratical vagabond outsider chef as he journeys through his chosen career. I’ve waited oh so patiently for the unabridged Audible version of KC to become available in the UK and have just gorged the whole book in one glorious self indulgent happy thankful session. It is truly brilliant.

Kitchen Confidential

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I've always wanted to read this book so delighted when I saw it available on Audible. Narrated by Anthony Bourdain himself which made the experience even better. Really good story and a simple must for a foodie.

Great listen

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Though an ex cook by trade I only heard about Anthony Bourdain after watching his "parts unknown" series on Netflex and becoming upset when I learned that my new culinary hero had taken his own life some few years prior.

I decided to listen to this book, my own Chef de cuisine / mentor recommending it as a good read......... he did not disappoint! I listened gleefully recalling some of my own hard knocks, personal triumphs of a service gone well and personal degeneracy that I inherited with my short time in the industry and am thoughroughly proud of! the book made me think "wow so I'm not alone, we really are all like that".

if you are interested in what really happens behind that swing door and the pass both good and bad do yourself a favour and listen to or read (though the audio is great as the man himself is narrating) kitchen confidential. you will laugh, likely vomit and maybe feel inspired to try something new.

RIP Tony, you are missed!

Excellent read (listen)

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I've read the paper copy to tatters, so it's a gem to have his voice reading the familiar words to me.

I miss him every day

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this book is equally as good as marco pier whites book bourdain is very eloquent and educated. I have seen his TV shows parts unknown ect very good. but this book was better, really enjoyed this book definitely going to read his other books next medium raw for sure.

couldn't stop listening

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Fascinating account of the restaurant world. Incredibly well written and narrated by the man himself. I highly recommend!

one of my all time favourites

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A really enjoyable listen and Anthony Bourdains narration is so good.. Keeps you wanting more

Kitchen confidential

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I've loved Anthony's documentaries for a long time and listening to this book was well overdue. I can honestly say it did not disappoint at all, I binged it within two days. His wonderful language depicts the service industry perfectly, warts and all. All the while, romanticising it all the same.

Romantically Ugly

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This is what any fan would expect from Bourdain. It is witty, painfully honest and meaning to shock. Very enjoyable if you met him via TV and found him refreshingly different. His book is too.

A loss for us all.

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