The classic bestseller from the star of Parts Unknown and No Reservations : 25th Anniversary edition, with a new introduction 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 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