Bourdain Promises ‘Unapologetic Food Porn’ for ‘Parts Unknown’ Singapore

Throughout Season 10 of his hit CNN travel show Parts Unknown, Anthony Bourdain will visit some destinations that he’s never been to before. But for the premiere, Bourdain is actually returning to one of his favorite places in the world, Singapore, for an episode full of what he describe as “straight-up, old-school, 100 percent pure, uncut, unapologetic food porn.”

Bourdain will eat skewers in the city’s famed hawker markets, he’ll down rice cakes in the Muslin quarter, and he’ll break bread with the family that has operated the beloved Keng Eng Kee Seafood restaurant for four decades. This episode also includes a solid minute and a half of Bourdain waxing poetic about a single plate of stir-fried noodles from the Hong Lim Hawker Centre — it’s a thing of beauty, really.

Here are some of Bourdain’s thoughts on the Singaporean food scene, in general:

Singapore is possibly the most foodcentric place on Earth, with the most enthusiastic diners, the most varied and abundant, affordable dishes—available for cheap—on a per-square-mile basis. The hawker centers (basically, food courts where individually-owned mom and pop operations serve street food from tiny shops and booths) are wonderlands of Chinese, Indian, and Malay specialties. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel making food porn in Singapore

The episode will also serve as a crash course on the modern history of this island-city state, with appearances from renowned street food expert KF Seetoh, Singaporean comedian Najip Ali, author Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh, and chef Damian d’Silva. You can check out a full guide to the locales featured on this episode, plus essays, videos, and travel itineraries, over on Explore Parts Unknown.

Season 10 kicks off at 9 p.m. this Sunday, October 1 on CNN. Immediately following the east coast premiere, please join our discussion of the episode over on Eater’s Facebook page.

• Explore Parts Unknown: Singapore [E]
• All Parts Unknown Coverage [E]