Review: Eat My Globe by Simon Majumdar
For many in the US, Simon Majumdar is a bit of an unknown entity. Is he a chef? Is he a food critic? Is he an internationally renowned restauranteur? Why is he on TV so much? Who the hell is Simon Majumdar?
Over the past few years I have had the pleasure of watching Simon critique food on Food Network hits like The Next Iron Chef and it’s benefactor Iron Chef America. In that time we have become friends in the way that you only can in the cyber age – via Twitter and Facebook. In September Simon will be joining forces with Alex Guarnaschelli and another of my virtual friends Troy Johnson of the under-appreciated series Crave for the new show Undercover Critics. In UC the three noted critics, employing hidden cameras, survey restaurants. They then share their thoughts with the owners so they may fix the problems before being formally reviewed.
Back to the earlier question of who the hell is Simon Majumdar? There was a time when Simon was a powerful player in the world of publishing. But in his early 40’s he began to feel that life had more to offer than the daily grind of meetings, meetings and still more meetings. One day he stumbled across a sort-of bucket list of goals he’d written as a school boy. On that list were the instructions to go everywhere and eat everything.
Simon quit his job and embarked on a geocentric culinary quest to do just that. The resulting book, Eat My Globe (Free Press) is why you now see him your TV. Majumdar has an opinion and he knows how to express it. None other than Anthony Bourdain is quoted on the cover of Eat My Globe saying, “the bastard can write.” There are lots of other praises that adorn the cover as well but none of them are as cool as a profanity-laced blurb from Tony.
Bourdain is right about Simon’s prowess with a phrase. Observe:
Children like me.
Don’t laugh. It’s true. Kids love me. I may look like the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but for some reason children seem to take to me. At dinner parties, I am inevitably the one sitting in the corner with my host’s kids playing games rather than indulging in series adult conversation. On the few occasions when I am invited to christenings or weddings, I invariably plunk myself down at the children’s stable to talk to them rather than listen to some stranger tell me all about his career as an accountant while spitting bits of cold poached salmon in my direction
Kids just love their adorable Uncle Simon.
Eric Balic, however, hated my guts.
Or.
If anyone ever tells you that traveling by train is romantic, I want you to kill him for me and I want you to do it slowly.
Simon even has his own panache for travel advice:
The Japanese train station bento box is definitely one of the world’s great foodie treasures.
Along his journey he encountered many different cultures and practices. Here is a taste:
There is a reason that Russian men have a life expectancy of only fifty-nine years, and almost always die before their wives.
They want to.
In China:
Butcher blocks held every kind of animal imaginable, and the putrid smell of the meat brought a wave of nausea over me.
And of course, there was dog.
Eat My Globe is exceptionally well written. It is humorous, intelligent and not the least bit pretentious. It has something for everyone, even fans of weird food. On his travels Simon ate the aforementioned dog as well as rat, cod sperm, fermented mare’s milk and even rotten shark meat to name a few.
So the next time you’re watching ICA and you find yourself wondering who does this bald-headed British jerk think he is? just grab your copy of Eat My Globe and refresh your memory. For more answers to the question of who the hell Simon Majumdar is just visit his web site HERE.
ICA: Morimoto vs Cora vs Symon
The first ever Iron Chef Three-way!
The branches of the United States military always work together to protect the country, but there also is an intense competitive spirit among the divisions of the armed forces. The Army, Navy and Marines move their rivalry to Kitchen Stadium and join forces with three Iron Chefs in the ultimate Military Grill Battle. Iron Chefs Morimoto, Symon and Cora travel to Hawaii where each will team with a well-seasoned cook from a different branch of the military.
At the scenic and historic Marine Base Hawaii at Kane’ohe Bay on the island of Oahu, the Iron Chefs and their military cohorts must cook to impress a tough panel of judges highlighting the usage of a world class grill and a bounty of Hawaiian ingredients in their culinary arsenal.
It’s good to see Cat Cora don her Iron Chef jacket one more (or is it one last?) time. The judges for Battle: Ahi Tuna were Daniel Dae Kim, Sunny Anderson and Simon Majumdar
Check below for the outcome.
| Morimoto | Cat Cora | Simon | |
| Taste | 25 | 24 | 26 |
| Plating | 13 | 12 | 12 |
| Originality | 13 | 12 | 15 |
| Total | 51 | 48 | 53 |
ICA: Flay vs. Allegretti
Iron Chef Bobby Flay faces off against challenger Alain Allegretti, executive chef at La Promenade des Anglais in New York City. Judges are Simon Majumdar, Cady Huffman and Candice Kumai.
Alain Allegretti hails from a prominent culinary background developed in kitchens across France and the United States. His cooking style pairs cultural influences from his home city of Nice with the guidance culled from famed chefs including Jacques Maximin and Alain Ducasse.
Allegretti’s career, in both France and New York, stretches from helming the kitchen at legendary restaurants to his own eponymous restaurant. He was the executive chef at the New York Ritz-Carlton’s highly acclaimed restaurant, Atelier, where he was instrumental in aiding the restaurant to achieve multi-star reviews by prominent publications. Allegretti honed his culinary skills at several Michelin star rated restaurants including the two-star Restaurant Le Chantecler, three-star rated Chez Chapel in Mionnay and three-star rated Restaurant Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo.
Allegretti arrived on the New York restaurant scene in 2001 as Co-Executive Chef at Sirio Maccioni’s Le Cirque 2000. In 2008 Allegretti opened his eponymous restaurant Allegretti in the Flatiron District and earned a rave 2 star review by Frank Bruni in the New York Times, along with glowing critique from the New York Post, Time Out New York, Insatiable Critic, among other outlets. Allegretti’s newest flagship restaurant, La Promenade des Anglais, features cuisine inspired by the French Riviera with subtle influences from various regions of Italy as well, bringing the glamour, the romance and the food of the French Riviera to the fashionable Chelsea district.
Allegretti’s résumé is world class but there is no venue in the world like Kitchen Stadium especially when Iron Chef Bobby Flay is waiting for you. Saddle up for Battle: Canned Tuna.
Check below for the outcome.
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Flay Allegretti
Taste: 25 Taste: 20
Plating: 13 Plating: 12
Originality: 13 Originality: 9
Total: 51 Total: 41
Food Network Announces a Bevy of New Shows
Famous New York butcher and meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda brings Food Network viewers inside the fascinating and compelling world of Meat Men. Running Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors, a third-generation wholesale meat purveyor business, Pat, along with his cousin Mark Pastore, and his dad Pat Sr., supply more than 500 customers, including some of the most prestigious restaurants and bistros in New York City. Expanding from a small corner shop in New York City to a 35,000 square-feet facility in New Jersey, this growth comes with great pressure to maintain the high-quality product for which Pat has become known, and to manage the many hurdles that occur. Whether it’s last-minute requests, creating custom blends and menus for new clients, or navigating the personalities of a work staff, Meat Men takes viewers on a high-‘steaks’ ride with a side of humor, served medium rare.
In new series, Undercover Critics, Alex Guarnaschelli (Chopped), Troy Johnson (Crave) and Simon Majumdar (Next Iron Chef) go undercover as restaurant critics armed with hidden cameras to unfold the good, the bad and the ugly of established restaurants. Then, they give the owners new life and a second chance to improve on their violations before the review is actually published. After visiting the restaurant, the Undercover Critics give an anonymous tip to the owner letting them know they visited, but won’t write a review just yet. Instead, they give the owners a laundry list of things to fix, and the owners do whatever it takes to turn a bad review into a great one before it hits the press.
