No Reservations

I just caught an episode of Anthony Bourdain's latest TV program on travel and living, Anthony Bourdain's : No Reservations. This is the second time I am blogging about Bourdain and his series.  The first was when he did a special episode on A Cook's Tour regarding Ferran Adria, a quasi chef and chemist who is a food designer in the Milan sort of prespective.

Anway, his episode over today's Astro Travel and Living channel was his tour to Malaysia.  I was sceptical at first at his new show.  No Reservations, sounds a lot more like travelling without room or board, which is truly what his new series is about, food and travel.  These 2 things go hand in hand like 'Ying and Yang'.  Tony has always been my favourite food TV celebrity.  His uncanny ability to blend food, environment and culture with flawless explanation and without prejudice.  A food enthusiast and avid traveller, he just loves to blend in the diverse culture with the flavors of the food.  That is where he makes the connection.  Theres not many like him, who could speak his/her mind regarding the places that they traveled and also the people they meet and the food that they eat.

In this particular episode, Chef Wan brought him to Kampung Baru to 'educate' Tony on the wide variety of Malaysian food.  A melting pot of diverse cultures and ethnicities, Malaysia has a lot to offer.  The best thing about Malaysia is, we do not come out a blend of a bit of this a bit of that, y'know what I mean?  Let's take Jamaica's 'Creole' for example.  That is a Jamaican/Haitian food which is actually from India with a lot of influences from other countries.  Here in Malaysia, the gulai's are from the Malays, the curries from the Indians and the soups and noodles from the Chinese.  We have distinct flavors to differentiate the different cultures for food..and proud to be Malaysian - we eat them all.

So Tony's tour started from Kampung Baru, where he pronounced it very Malaysian way and he sampled jantung pisang (I know a certain bunny's favourite) budu.  Tony found the taste fantastic.  He sampled cincalok, gulai and other items and was taught how to eat with his hands.  Later a sample of pau to top it off.  He wasn't thoroughly impressed...not from the way I see it but Chef Wan was out of line.  He was yakking away, more than he should've.  I mean okay, its Tony Bourdain I understand, but thats no reason for you to try and drown him with your celebrity-ness.

The next day Tony visited Batu Caves and man, did he feel like quitting smoking.  You see, thats the best thing about Tony.  He feels the environment around him, get to know the people and their food.  At night he sampled sup torpedo (bull penis soup) with kopi tongkat ali.  Now, that lite his eyes up a bit...hehehe.

He wanted to drill down to the ethinic groups, really sample and feel the original culture, the food and the people so he met up with someone from the Iban tribe in KL, which later on, got  a tattoo from him too as this fellow is a tattoo artist.  So packing up and flying to Sarawak, Tony had a great guide who goes by the name of David.  Their first stop for breakfast, is for Laksa Sarawak.  In Tony's words and I quote "Toast and two eggs over easy just doesn't do it for me anymore".  One thing about this man, when it comes to spicy and heaty food, bring it on.  Tony then made his way up to the Iban longhouse by boat and somehow when I watching him on that boat, going thru the rivers in the jungle it struck to me that he looked like an American GI in Vietnam in the movie Apocolypse Now.  As I was just having that thought in my head, he said almost the same thing that why he kept relating himself as Martin Sheen in that movie and for him to find Marlon Brando in the deep jungles of Vietnam.  I guess the journey by boat that seemed ages to reach, the quiteness of the air, the stillness of the jungle and the distance from the nearest town tend to scare people away.  They stopped at the only convenience store (not 7-Eleven) and gulped down a few cans of cold ones which I can see in Tony's face, was a real hit-the-spot cooldown.  I liked it when David the tour guide said "The convenience store carries all the neccessities like cigarettes, rubber and beer"...yeah, bare necessities.

Well, in Iban tradition according to David the tour guide, every male when they come of age are to go out into the world and travel and seek knowledge and bring it back.  That made Tony feel more Iban-ize as he too travels to seek out new taste, new smell and new things.  He carries this tattoo courtesy of that fellow he met in KL, the tattoo artist of the Iban symbol.  Tony asked himself, what have I learned in this that could change my life?  How can he be enthusiastic and yet so hollow when it was time to leave?  I can relate to him everytime I travel anywhere for that fact because as a traveller, you indulge in the surroundings and scenary around you.  You drown yourself in their environment hoping to understand their way of life.

With that, I bid Tony good luck in his new series which has many more places to be shown.  Try to catch one of it because he does not only find for the new taste, new sights and new smell, he travels too.  Have a pleasant read.

"I think for the greatest, most exciting and diverse mix all in one place, I'd have to go for Singapore or Malaysia because of the mix cultures of Chinese, Indian and Malay, a vibrant street food culture and a fiercely, fiercely foody population. They like their food and take it seriously. You can always find a good argument on where to get the best food in Singapore and Malaysia and those kind of strong opinions are always a good sign. Where people are opiniated about food, they tend to cook well" - Anthony Bourdain, Washingtonpost.com, March 30th 2006

Comments

[euiming]

the one who tattoo him is eddie from borneo ink. the shop is locate in kl at hartamas there. and he got a tattoo of a orobouros on his left shoulder. you can log in to the web of borneo ink www.borneoink.com....
after that he balance the left tattoo with a skull on his right shoulder from miami ink....