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To mark the release of Tony in cinemas, 50 Best looks back at the restaurants the chef and presenter loved most.
Deeply empathetic and driven by wanderlust, Anthony Bourdain changed the world's relationship with food. He is widely considered to be one of the culinary world's original rockstars, wielding strong opinions on all forms of cuisine, from fine dining to street hawkers.
Over the course of his life, he shared these thoughts with rapt audiences, unintentionally popularising brilliant, under-the-radar spots. 
The film, released on 7 August, stars Dominic Sessa (centre) as Bourdain during a single summer in 1975 (image: A24)
In a world of social media critics and democratised travel, Bourdain's open-minded approach still resonates. And with the release of A24's Tony – a new biopic focusing on his early years as a chef in Provincetown, Massachusetts, detailed in his memoir Kitchen Confidential – there's no time like the present to revisit his favourite restaurants.
Asador Etxebarri
Axtondo 
Bourdain ranked Bittor Arguinzoniz's tribute to Basque grilling as one of his bucket list restaurants in Men's Health in 2009, as well as featuring visits in both No Reservations and in Parts Unknown. Worthy of particular praise was the inventive treatment of baby eels, beluga caviar and oysters. In theory, all are far too delicate for the heat of the restaurant's homemade charcoal, but Arguinzoniz had created a series of pulleys to allow for the perfect level of chargrilling.
Ganbara
San Sebastián
Open since 1984, this San Sebastián institution was Bourdain's chosen spot for pintxos. He first sampled its signature dish – seared wild mushrooms with foie gras and raw egg yolk – when filming for No Reservations, then, on a later visit for Parts Unknown, Bourdain revealed that, over the last 15 years, he often thought about the dish. It's an essential Bourdain-approved stop on a Basque roadtrip.
Le Bernardin
New York 
Lifelong friend and TV shenanigans accomplice, Eric Ripert, also happened to be at the helm of one of Bourdain's favourite New York restaurants. In Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain says that Le Bernardin is the only restaurant from which he would order seafood on a Monday, claiming few restaurants receive deliveries on a weekend. Over the course of their friendship, Bourdain often praised Ripert's cooking, and named it in his iconic restaurant bucket list.
Le Baratin
Paris
Home to unpretentious French bistro cooking with nods to chef Raquel Carena's Argentine heritage, Le Baratin cameoed in the pilot of No Reservations, with Bourdain praising sommelier Philippe Pinoteau's modern approach to wine and Carena's confident menu. Pinoteau was an early adopter of the biodynamic wines that dominate many of Paris' bistros today, while Carena's cooking (also featured in The Layover) was defined as food locals actually want to eat, rather than touristy French clichés by the author and travel documentarian.
The French Laundry
Yountville 
Named The World's Best Restaurant in 2003 and 2004, food lovers are no stranger to Thomas Keller's tribute to French technique and pristine local ingredients. For Bourdain, the Yountville temple to precision was one of his most formative fine-dining experiences, even suggesting a semi-serious pre-dinner ritual involving fasting for two days prior to tackling the full tasting menu. In an interview with Mother Jones in 2010, he went as far as to call a meal here, "maybe the greatest restaurant meal of my life."
Sukiyabashi Jiro
Tokyo
In an interview with the Guardian in 2016, Bourdain revealed he would have his last ever meal at Sukiyabashi Jiro. Barack Obama and Joël Robuchon were also fans of the tiny Tokyo sushi bar. Diners who manage to get one of the rare bookings: take Bourdain's advice and feast on sushi master Jiro Ono's 20-piece omakase menu with one (or several) of the available rare sakes.
St. John
London 
Arguably one of Bourdain's most-mentioned institutions, St. John has pioneered nose-to-tail eating since 1994. He wrote most memorably about chef Fergus Henderson's roast bone marrow scooped onto toasted bread, finished with sea salt: "If I had to die with half a bite of anything hanging out of my mouth, it would probably be the roast bone marrow in Fergus Henderson's plain-white dining room at St. John."
Le Comptoir
Paris
Once named "the hardest reservation in Paris" by Bourdain, Le Comptoir's Yves Camdeborde is credited with starting the Parisian bistronomie movement. Tables in the elegant, Art Deco-style dining room are strictly non-reservable, while the lunch menu is packed with brasserie classics – garlicky snails, crusty bread, eat-all-you-want house terrine – while dinner service offers more haute cuisine. Fittingly, the restaurant featured in a special Paris episode of No Reservations, where Bourdain named the blood sausage ravioli "one of the best things [he's] tasted all year."
Per Se
New York
Bourdain described Keller's New York venture as "the best restaurant in the world, period" during the filming of A Cook's Tour: high praise given Bourdain's cynicism of traditional fine-dining. The archetype of New American cuisine and The French Laundry's older cousin, Per Se is known for its precision and finesse, all alongside sweeping views of Central Park.
El Bulli
Roses 
Ranked The World's Best Restaurant five times over the course of the 2000s, Ferran Adrià's cooking at El Bulli changed modern gastronomy. Bourdain had admired the Spanish restaurant since 2001, with their first meeting eventually resulting in the 2006 documentary film, Decoding Ferran Adrià. In 2011, and El Bulli's final year, Bourdain was filmed eating the restaurant's up to 50-course tasting menu as part of the finale to No Reservations, claiming he was a visionary in his field, but a "great guy" too.
Swan Oyster Depot
San Francisco
Open since 1912, Bourdain regarded this old-school San Francisco classic as a "touchstone on [his] worldwide wanderings." Over the past 100-plus years, Swan Oyster Depot has built a reputation for fresh-as-they-come, home-style seafood comfort classics loved by locals and visitors alike. If you're planning a visit, expect to wait: it has only 18 seats and no reservations. Featured on Parts Unknown, the crab back – a buttery medley of crabmeat and liver on a half shell, once a secret menu option until Bourdain ordered it – should not be missed.
Le Chateaubriand
Paris 
Presented by Bourdain as an "anti-French" bistro, Le Chateaubriand has a reputation for its rule-breaking cooking. While today maverick chef Iñaki Aizpitarte spends more time at Le Petit Grill Basque than the Parisian cult favourite, his influence still holds. The no-choice taster menu, experienced by Bourdain and an initially reluctant Ripert, is seasonally driven and changes daily, often featuring provocative flavour pairings such as steamed turbot with rhubarb and elderflower or cherry ice cream with dried capers. (Image: Lil Watkin)
Tawlet Mar Mikhael
Beirut
Bourdain first visited Beirut farmer's market Souk el Tayeb during filming for Parts Unknown. Here, he declared that "eating in Lebanon is fun" while sampling fūl (fava bean stew), balila (warm seasoned chickpeas) and Armenian-influenced lahmajoon (meat flatbread) at Tawlet Mar Mikhael, the market's daily changing open buffet where cooks from across Lebanon present dishes from their villages. Open since 2009, the space is a showcase of regional pride more in line with a Lebanese home than a formal restaurant.
Katz's Delicatessen
New York 
Katz's Deli was a taste of home for Bourdain. In a 2017 interview with Variety magazine, he said: "The first thing I get when I'm back in New York is a pastrami sandwich." Today, Katz's is considered the pinnacle of pastrami sandwich shops, residing on the Lower East Side scene since 1888, with its red neon signage a beacon for lovers of laid-back Jewish mainstays done right.
Paul Bocuse
Lyon
In an interview with CNN in 2014, Bourdain revealed that Parts Unknown episode with late chef Paul Bucose was his "sentimental favourite". Comparing Bocuse with the status of boxer Muhammed Ali, Bourdain credits him for his contribution to French culinary identity, with the Bocuse's signature Président Giscard d'Estaing – a black truffle soup served with a pastry cap created for a presidential lunch at Élysée Palace in 1975 – earning him the title of Knight of the Legion of Honour.
Raan Jay Fai
Bangkok 
Described by Bourdain as "Mozart of the wok", Jay Fai is the nickname given to local cooking legend Supinya Junsuta – who, in her 70s, became the first street food chef to earn a Michelin star. She quickly became famous after appearing in Parts Unknown, and her stall is now, never quiet. If you're in town, don't miss the crab omelette, made using a whole kilo of crab meat wrapped in crispy, golden-brown fried egg.
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