Finger food and fine dining: Anthony Bourdain’s favourite meals from around the world
Gordon Ramsay looks at a piece of raw chicken breast like it’s just insulted his entire family tree, beating into its flesh with his leather knuckles as he prepares it to become a boujie goujon. His view on sustenance was, indeed, far different to that of the late great American chef and gastronomic poet Anthony Bourdain, who has inspired food lovers the world over to travel the globe in search of their own favourite tastes.
Just like Ramsay, Bourdain was a chef first and foremost, graduating from The Culinary Institute of America in 1978 before going on to lead several restaurants across the country. In 2000, he released his first book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and two years later, his celebrated TV show, A Cook’s Tour, premiered on the Food Network.
More than just a chef and a wordsmith capable of making you want to instantly buy tickets to fly to whichever restaurant he was describing, Bourdain was a pioneer of the food travel genre of television. Perfecting the recipe for an indulgent and engrossing cooking show, touring the world with Bourdain appealed to both foodies looking for their next slice of inspiration and stoners hoping to salivate.
During his time touring the world, Bourdain wrote and spoke about some of his favourite foods and restaurants, with some of the best being listed in the handy guide below.
Anthony Bourdain’s favourite meals:
Antipasti, Rome (Italy)
You might think that you can recreate the classic antipasti spread of bite-sized appetisers on your own by sourcing the ingredients during an expensive trip to Sainsbury’s, but nothing compares to the real thing. To get the very best olives, anchovies, artichoke hearts, cured meats and pepperoncini, there is only one place to go: the capital of Italy itself in the heart of the country, Rome.
Bourdain particularly adored the restaurant Osteria dal 1931 and its extra-special antipasti course, exclaiming his love for the cured meats at this establishment over any other in the Italian capital.
Blood sausage, Budapest (Hungary)
Some readers may, indeed, be thinking, why venture to Budapest in Hungary if you’re looking for good old black pudding, known outside of the UK as blood sausage? But, the kind of black pudding that Bourdain is recommending is on an entirely different level to the shrivelled, grisly hockey puck that you can get in Morrisons; the blood sausage of Budapest is, indeed, gastronomically elite.
“Let there be blood. Delicious, delicious blood – in tube form,” Bourdain exclaimed in season five, episode six of Parts Unknown, when the chef heads to Budapest, calling out Belvárosi Disznótoros as his favourite establishment to serve the delicacy.
Cioppino, San Francisco (California/USA)
Sometimes, you just can’t get any better than a classic home comfort. Travelling the world is great and all, but the greatest gastronomic adventures can be on the doorstep of your home country, with Bourdain falling in love with the Cioppino of Tadich Grill in San Francisco, California. Known for its great seafood, there may, indeed, be no better place to scoff down such seaside scran than San Francisco.
For those who are unaware of what a Cioppino is, let us encourage your mouth to salivate. A Cioppino is a seafood stew that contains halibut, mussels, clams and shrimp, straight from the San Fran shores to your gob.
Feijoada, São Paulo (Brazil)
Why complicate things, especially after a long day at work? The Brazilian dish feijoada is a stew made with beans, beef and pork, which is sure to satisfy after a long day. Bourdain is one of millions of people to fall in love with the dish, complementing the stew during episode four, season two of Anthony Bourdain: The Layover, where he stated that the dish had been “elevated into something that everybody loves”.
Feijoada da Lana was the lucky restaurant he stated made the best feijoada, and you would, indeed, expect this after the establishment named themselves after the traditional dish.
Francesinha, Porto (Portugal)
There’s a reason why sandwiches are so popular: they’re delicious. You can have healthy ones and you can have delectably sloppy ones, with the Francesinha falling into the latter category, being a sandwich containing steak, ham and sausage while being covered in cheese and a sauce made partly with beer. Yes, it is exactly as perfect for a hangover as it sounds.
Bourdain’s pick of the Francesinha eateries was O Afonso in Porto, exclaiming in season nine, episode nine of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown: “Wow, what a construction! Meat, cheese, fat, and bread. It’s the immortal combination”.
Sautéed prawns, Hong Kong
Bourdain called Hong Kong one of the greatest cities in the world for food, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to see a dish from the Chinese region on the list. Visiting in 2018, Bourdain was stunned by Happy Paradise, located in central Hong Kong, and was particularly taken aback by the sautéed prawns served with pumpkin seeds, shrimp roe, and egg noodles.
As Laurie Woolever, who worked closely with Bourdain, told The Guardian, the chef considered it, as well as the yellow chicken “stunningly delicious”.
Seared wild mushrooms and foie gras, San Sebastián (Spain)
Spain boasts some of the greatest food on the planet, including gazpacho, paella and the divine patatas bravas, to name just three. But, for Bourdain, nothing beat the seared wild mushrooms and foie gras which he scranned at the Ganbara restaurant in San Sebastián, a city located on the North coast of the country, very close to the border with France.
Stating that he regularly came to the restaurant whenever he visited Spain, Bourdain lovingly recalled: “The house speciality, what they’re most famous for, is the be-all and end-all for me: seared wild mushrooms and foie gras with a raw egg yolk over the top, to sizzle and commingle with the hot fungi”.
Trotters, Paris (France)
If you’re not sure what trotters are, it’s likely that you’d be able to guess exactly what they are without Googling it. Yep, they are the feet of the cow or pig that end up on your plate, with this being a delicacy across the world, particularly after the United Kingdom revived the cut of meat in an effort to find cheaper recipes in an ever-more expensive world of gastronomic ambition.
His favourite trotter recipe came out of Paris, France. However, the home of fine food, eating the dish at Le Papillon, Rue Mouffetard, in the centre of the capital. If you’re ever passing through, it comes with acclaimed recommendations.
Bún Châ, Vietnam
Of all the places in the world, Vietnam might be Bourdain’s favourite gastronomic destination. For proof, simply visit the official Vietnam tourism website, where Bourdain seems to have personally endorsed the food of the country, calling it “one of his favourite places on earth,” before adding, “Vietnam. It grabs you and doesn’t let you go. Once you love it, you love it forever”.
The country has given birth to such delicious offerings as phở, bánh Mì and cơm tấm, but Bourdain’s favourite is the bún chả, a dish that consists of noodles served with grilled pork.