The Singapore Restaurant That Houses Anthony Bourdain's Prized Possessions

In 2019, a little more than a year after Anthony Bourdain's death, an auction was held by Lark Mason Associates offering a collection of Bourdain's art and personal effects donated by his family. The 202 auction items consisted of many of Bourdain's clothes, jewelry, books, and mementos from his years of travel. A must-have item in the auction was his steel-and-meteorite kitchen knife that he bought from renowned bladesmith Bob Kramer in 2016 for $5,000. As Bourdain's fans may know, nothing set his teeth on edge more than a dull knife, and Kramer's beautiful creation, forged especially for Bourdain, was one of his most prized possessions. At the Lark Mason auction, after 55 bids, the Kramer knife sold for a gasp-inducing $231,250, the highest bid for any  item, and the new owner turned out to be former celebrity "bad boy" chef Marco Pierre White. 

White purchased many other items, including his own gifts to Bourdain, to prevent them from being split up and he put the collection on display at his Singapore restaurant, The English House. Titled "A Portrait of Bourdain: Celebrating His Life and Legacy," the collection is only available for viewing by dining patrons. Among the eclectic mix of items is Bourdain's beloved Parisian duck press (for extracting blood and juices from a dead duck), eccentric sculptures and artwork, photographs, and prints. In memory of his friend, White serves a special menu, including Bourdain's favorite dish, cacio e pepe.

Anthony Bourdain had long admired Marco Pierre White since the publication of White's restaurant tell-all "White Heat," which came out 10 years before Bourdain's seminal "Kitchen Confidential." Bourdain often attributed "White Heat" as influential for him, since the book's dramatic black-and-white photos and White's take-no-prisoners prose exposed what most restaurant workers felt about the grueling hours and physically- and emotionally-damaging lifestyle. White certainly had a meteoric career that earned him his celebrity culinary reputation. 

He began his training in London at 16, apprenticing with well-known French chefs, then moving on to established restaurants, before opening his own, Harvey's, in 1987. There, he earned a Michelin star two years in a row and then moved on to be head chef at Restaurant Marco Pierre White, where he was awarded his third Michelin star, the first and youngest British chef to do so. White was apparently a terror in and out of the kitchen, perhaps similar to what's depicted on "The Bear," and, overwhelmed with exhaustion, he retired at age 38 and, most spectacularly, returned his Michelin stars. 

Bourdain met White when filming "No Reservations" in 2008, and they bonded. Their close friendship was demonstrably shown on a 2012 episode of Bourdain's "The Layover" and again in 2016 on "Parts Unknown." White was distraught over Bourdain's death, calling him the "Hemingway of gastronomy," so it's fitting that he keeps Bourdain's spirit alive at the collection at The English House.