Kitchen Confidential, Bondi Literary Salon Book Club

Join the Bondi Literary Salon for our next book club. In our gathering, we will discuss Anthony Bourdain's, Kitchen Confidential.

WHEN: Wednesday, 28th of October 2026, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore; please arrive at 6.45pm for a prompt 7pm start.

TICKETS: Admission: $25.00 (excluding external fees). Your ticket includes a drink on arrival and nibbles during the evening.

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

The Book:

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 the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village, 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.

In the twenty-five years since it was first published, Kitchen Confidential has become a modern classic for its uncensored, razor-sharp insight into the restaurant kitchen at boiling point.

The Author:

Anthony Bourdain was the New York Times-bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential, Medium Raw, A Cook’s Tour, Typhoid Mary and The Nasty Bits, the cookbooks Appetites and Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook, and the novels Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo. He also co-authored the graphic novel Get Jiro! with Joel Rose. His writing appeared in the New York Times and New Yorker. He was the host of the popular television shows No Reservations, Parts Unknown, A Cook's Tour and The Layover. Bourdain died in June 2018.

'Rarely has a book been seized upon by a profession as the true gospel in such a manner' - Jay Rayner.

About The Bondi Literary Salon

Bondi Literary Salon was established in 2018, it is the in-house book club of beloved Bondi institution, Gertrude & Alice. The group endeavours to explore the vast world of literature each month, with a selection that reflects a focus on diverse writers and stories; delving into both classic and contemporary fiction, as well as non-fiction. 

Our philosophy has always been to use language and literature not only as a tool for connection and community, but as an insight into worlds we have not had the pleasure of visiting ourselves. We welcome all - young and old, those with a life-long love of literature, or whose relationship may be only beginning. Join us in the unmatched comfort of an after-hours bookstore, accompanied by wine and cheese, for an evening spent discussing books and building community.

About Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore:

Rated as one of the top 10 bookstores in the world by National Geographic, Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore is an oasis for writers, readers, and coffee lovers. Books overflow from the shelves of their store, featuring a mix of new, second-hand, antiquarian and rare books. Stay a while & enjoy some homemade chai, and amazing coffee, and unearth a book treasure or two. Read more about the bookstore's story here, and about the real Gertrude & Alice here.