Tragic celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain dined on local Alsace sausage, pork knuckle and saurkraut in a meal that cost €44 (£39) and drank three glasses of €4 wine before committing suicide on Friday, MailOnline can reveal.
The table he used at the Wistub La Petite Venise in Colmar, France, has become a place of pilgrimage for fans and the restaurant is planning to offer his selection as a ‘Bourdain Menu’ in tribute to the star.
Bourdain, 61, filmed at the restaurant on Monday and a photograph of him dining there was his final post on Instagram. It has since attracted more than 160,000 likes.
Anthony Bourdain dined at Wistub La Petite Venise in Colmar, France, four days before he died. He is pictured right with chef Julien Schroeder (center), his wife Virginie Schroeder (center right) Eric Ripert (second left)
Bourdain’s meal, and his last-ever Instagram post, including braised pork knuckle with horseradish sauce, sauerkraut, and cervelas sausage
‘It is very strange to sit at the same table that he dined at just a few days ago,’ owner Julien Schroeder, 35, told MailOnline. His last Instagram photo was here so it is a very big thing for us.
‘We can see how people loved him. The picture has 160,000 likes so far. He was a kitchen star and it was very big for us to see him before he died.’
Adele Couvidov, 20, was behind the bar when Bourdin attended the restaurant. ‘He didn’t speak very much and seemed preoccupied but there was nothing to suggest he was suicidal,’ she said.
‘His table has already become very popular. People are asking to eat the same food. We are planning to serve it as a tribute, as Bourdin’s menu.’
Bourdain, 61, hanged himself four days after dining at this table (right) at the restaurant in eastern France
The table (pictured) he used has become a place of pilgrimage for fans since his death
To start, the superstar chef ate cervelas sausage – a local speciality that originally contained pork brain – Swiss Gruyère cheese and pickled cucumber.
His main course was braised pork knuckle with horseradish sauce. He also ordered a large dish of choucroute, more commonly known as sauerkraut.
To drink the food icon had three modest glasses of wine, each costing just €4. First he ordered a Riesling Faller followed by the Riesling Albert Mann.
He finished with a Pinot Noir Albert Mann Grand H. The chef did not have a dessert, coffee or digestif but left a generous tip.
Adele Couvidov, 20, was behind the bar when Bourdin ate. ‘He didn’t speak very much and seemed preoccupied but there was nothing to suggest he was suicidal,’ she said
The fod menu at Wistub La Petite Venise from which Bourdain picked out his meal
To drink (menu pictured) the food icon had three modest glasses of wine, each costing just €4 – a Riesling Faller followed by the Riesling Albert Mann and a Pinot Noir Albert Mann Grand H
‘It was a great moment for our restaurant and now a tragic moment for kitchen history,’ Schroeder said.
‘If our restaurant becomes a place for fans to remember him we are happy about that.’
French prosecutors said Bourdain hanged himself with the belt of his bathrobe in a small hotel room bathroom.
He was found unresponsive on Friday morning in the bathroom of his room at Le Chambard hotel in Kayserberg by his close friend Éric Ripert.
Two of the many Bourdain fans MailOnline saw flock to the restaurant to sit at his table, which one of them is pictured pointing out
Restaurant owner Julien Schroeder, 35, sitting at the table where Bourdin dined
He was staying in the region to film scenes for his hit food travel show Parts Unknown.
A toxicology exam is underway to determine if he had any traces of alcohol or other substances in his system at the time.
Bourdain was open about his past struggles with drugs and was a recovered heroin addict.
French authorities say they are confident his death was a suicide and that ‘there is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment.’