Earlier this year, the snarky, street-food-loving TV host Anthony Bourdain announced that he was going to open an insane food market in NYC. Yesterday, his business partner Stephen Werther appeared at Singapore’s World Street Food Congress to talk several key details about the upcoming project.

While the exact location of Bourdain Market is still being kept under wraps, Eater reports the following tasty tidbits to get you amped:

  • Design inspiration for the space will partially come from Blade Runner and the back streets of Tokyo.
  • The space will have both a farmers market area and an “authentic hawker center” of food stalls.
  • Legendary Singapore street food expert K.F. Seetoh is involved in the hawker center planning.
  • Those hawker center food stalls will showcase seasoned street vendors from across the world, because Werther and Bourdain want to ensure high quality goods. But Bourdain Market reserves the right to kick out any vendor who is not performing up to par at any time, even if it’s very soon after the place opens.

According to ChannelNewsAsia, Werther said, “I like to think of Bourdain as the UN ambassador of food, and we would like all the countries in the world to send us your ambassadors. Yes, it is a for-profit business. Yes, it is his legacy for New York. Yes, it is probably what he will retire on. But we don’t do it for that.”

The farmers market portion will be much more than a standard farmers market. It will have an individual produce market, separate bakery and pastry shops, a 1,500 square-foot oyster bar, a butcher shop…the list goes on. If all that wears you out, there will be an Asian-influenced beer garden outside for you to cool off.

Werther clarified:

“Every neighborhood in New York City used to be anchored by a market. And New York City’s original street food was oysters. The island of Manhattan used to be surrounded by delicious oysters … and until we polluted the two rivers, that was the original street food with push-carts full of oysters that were cheap and delicious.”

Here’s a rendering of the oyster bar, which Werther showed during his talk at the World Street Food Congress:


Ambiance will be crazy and chaotic, not calm. Also, you should expect to wait in line for your food. With great quality in street food comes reasonable expectations of a line wrapping around the block twice.


Epic market #eat #everything #bladerunner #anthonybourdain #byhand

A photo posted by Roman and Williams (@romanandwilliams) on

A rendering of Bourdain Market via Roman and Williams, the design firm behind Lafayette and The Breslin in NYC

The market is slated to open some time in 2015, although the date remains a secret almost as closely guarded as the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa. Will it open on or around the October 20th release date of Bourdain’s Get Jiro: Blood and Sushi graphic novel? Only time will tell.

[via Eater, ChannelNewsAsia]