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Anthony Bourdain hopes new New York hawker center will draw Asians
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Celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain had said he wanted to bring his favorite hawkers, including Tian Tian Hainanese chicken rice, over to New York. (Shutterstock/Stock_photo_world)
C
elebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain wants his anticipated street food market in New York to draw Asian-born locals, and not just world food lovers, American-born Asians and "gringos".
"If the younger Korean hipsters and their grandparents like us, we're gonna be O.K," he told The New Yorker magazine.
The US$60 million (S$84.5 million) Bourdain Market at Pier 57, styled after the hawker centers of Singapore, has been years in the making. Bourdain had said he wanted to bring his favorite hawkers, including Tian Tian Hainanese chicken rice, over to New York.
(Read also: Anthony Bourdain treats President Obama to a $6 dinner)
There will be more than 100 hawkers, but many require visas to be in the US - a problem now that US president Donald Trump has tightened work visa applications.
When asked if New Yorkers will take to the exotic tastes of Asia, Bourdain said: "I'm an optimist."
He added: "I grew up watching Barney Miller, and it was Asian jokes all day long. They made fun of Asian food. It smelled like garbage. That's not funny anymore."
Bourdain said the style of the market will be "high-end retail as grungy, polyglot dystopia," or "a post-apocalyptic Grand Central Terminal, if it had been invaded by China".
The market is expected to open later this year.
This article appeared on The Straits Times newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
