The Kamogawa Food Detectives – ARC Book Review

The Kamogawa Food Detectives, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese sleuthing series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?

Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner treats its customers to wonderfully extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason to stop by . . .

The father-daughter duo have started advertising their services as ‘food detectives’. Through ingenious investigations, they are capable of recreating a dish from their customers’ pasts – dishes that may well hold the keys to forgotten memories and future happiness.

From the widower looking for a specific noodle dish that his wife used to cook, to a first love’s beef stew, the restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to the past – and a way to a more contented future.

A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.

If you have read Before the Coffee gets Cold, then you would most certainly enjoy reading this one–except this one is based on Japanese food!

Koishi and Nagare Kamogawa runs a restaurant that treats their guest with extravagant meals. But that’s not the reason why many people visit this restaurant. People have heard of this restaurant that apparently relives back the memories of the meal that they had eaten with their loved ones or made by their loved ones and the father-daughter help them to recreate those memories.

I actually enjoyed reading this book and this book made me feel like I was in Japan having Japanese meal. Reading about the actually food with its vivid descriptions of the food in detail also made me feel hungry as a result and made me wish that I can have that particular meal right now! I do like the relationship between Koishi and Nagare and I do like how each of the chapters are named with the name of the Japanese food that they will be using. Nagare recreates the dish thus making the guests feel and relive their memories of eating that particular dish thus feel a connection between the guest and the meal (a widower eating a dish that his late wife use to prepare, grand daughter recalls a dish that she and her grandfather would eat together). Oh, not to mention, I really like the mention of their cat!

Over all, this is a charming tale of short stories, quick to read and a book that talks about the food aligning with the retelling of memories that talks about loss, emotions, love and relationships. This is the first book of the stories and I actually enjoyed this one–worth four stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and PanMacmillan for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.