I really wanted to like this book. The idea of a magical restaurant in Toronto sounds delightful. Unfortunately, I couldn't really connect to the story. The food description was too excessive and I struggled to remain engaged. Luckily the audiobook was short.
If you enjoy food and cooking this may be for you.

An enjoyable novella about a restaurant where the food is amazing and the atmospheres is magical.
The gist you can get from the description, what it doesn't tell you is that the author loves food and describing it in sensuous detail (I have never heard the word "umami" so many times on my life). The story is set during the covid pandemic and provides a bit of a twist on that world event. There is a lot of showing, not telling, what the world is like and how it is structured as far as magic,
I could see this being a longer story where this novella was only a piece... like a flashback or an introduction... it could also be a one-off story that the author wrote becausee it was bursting to come out. I would likely read other novels or stories set in this universe by this author... if nothing else, for the food.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this book.

I definitely requested this audiobook because of the narrator, Emily Woo Zeller, and what a pleasant surprise!

This was a cozy, low stakes, slice of life fantasy set in a magical restaurant in Toronto. We follow the owner/chef as he meticulously prepares and creates different dishes, his wait staff, and the regulars and a couple of humans that come to eat the meals.

There's so much detail to the food and preparation, and you could feel the author's love of food incorporated into this. If you enjoy reading chef related books or if you want to heal your heart from being an abused and burnt out service worker, this might help.

This is a day in the life style, in a restaurant where the only chaos going on is a Djinn who randomly shows up after being gone for decades and wants to eat more delicious food. There are magical wards set up to do all the tedious back of house labor, and it's just descriptions of food and some conversations between the customers.

Low stakes, don't read while hungry, cozy little story, just along for the vibes. (No romance.)

As a huge foodie, I was super excited to read this book. I found the descriptions of the food and the cooking process so mouthwateringly delicious that I could envision them in my head as I listened along.

My main gripe is that there isn’t much of a plot to this book. It’s more of an Asian food cooking show laced into a narrative that never really has a point or goes anywhere. Overall I liked the concept, but it became redundant.

I think it was actually a disservice that this was a novella, instead of a full-length novel. It could have easily been expanded, but I suppose it was meant to be a teaser for the series. I won’t give up on it yet and look forward to seeing what’s next.

I give this book 3.75 stars. It was interesting and I didn’t see the storyline going where it did. I’m a huge foodie and enjoyed the descriptive chapters about the food, but I can see why others might not enjoy that as much. I loved the ending. I would read another book set in this world for sure. I would love to have more of the restaurant owner and read his story.

The Nameless Restaurant is such a pleasant and deceptively simple book.
I have come to appreciate stories like these which use familiar settings, interesting characters and short, incisive writing to convey more complex thoughts. The only downside is that I lack the magic to try the foods.

Well-written, well-paced, and a breath of fresh air in a literary world of overwrought, earth-shattering prose.

I picked up this ARC for 2 reasons … I’m enjoying a series by the author & Legends & Lattes.

A secret restaurant? Great idea!! I enjoyed the characters. I also didn’t like at least one LOL intentionally I’m sure!

I loved the talk of food! It was so new to me that I gave an extra star! A good narrator pulls you into the world! Is this a stand alone? A book full of novellas about unique restaurants or continuing series regarding this one would be great!

Thank you NetGalley & Dreamscape Media! What a fun story!!

Thanks to Net Galley for the audio version of this book.
Set in a nondescript restaurant in Toronto, the reader experiences all the sensations involved with the preparation and consumption of a remarkable meal. Interspersed through the amazing cooking is a story of supernatural beings (restaurant patrons) and their reaction to a deadly magical pandemic that seems to be just taking off across the world.
The writing is excellent, economical, but descriptive, providing the reader with just enough - much like a master Chef uses spice! The story, which was slow to unfold, is relevant to current times and though brief - provides quite a lot of food for thought and discussion.
This novella was a really delightful enigma. It left me wanting both a cozy meal and more “story”
In the end, this feels like a mood piece reflecting on the Covid pandemic, and I suspect there will be much much more written about that in time. I did want more plot, or more backstory on the characters, so I am hopeful there will be more! Definitely recommended. Volume 2 please!

It was cute but definitely felt like the start of a series. Nothing really happened (I know it’s supposed to be a cozy fantasy but still), it very much felt like the first part of a novella and not a novella that could stand on its own.
The food sounded really good though and I loved the narrator, it’s a really bummer that the rest f the story was just meh.
Overall, I don’t have much else to say because this novella was too short to form a proper opinion.

*SPOILERS AHEAD!*

There were parts of this book I liked and parts that didn’t quite work for me.

What I liked: the FOOD! The descriptions of the food, the recipes and processes, made me so hungry. I liked the care that was taken with the food and that every dish was exactly what the patron wanted.

What I didn’t like: so, this is a magical book, with various magical being in it. That’s fine. What I didn’t like was that they were coming together to discuss the pandemic. It was a slightly different take, but I do not like reading pandemic books. That’s obviously a me thing.

Overall, it was a well written, fun little story. Despite it not entirely working for me, I might read further books in the series, as I did like the premise. Plus, a book about a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Toronto, I am definitely here for that.

What a magical and delicious novella! I went into this one but knowing what to expect and was hooked from the first line. This is a story about a hidden restaurant in Toronto with expertly made food, cozy vibes, and supernatural creatures. The writing was whimsical and flowing with mouthwatering descriptions of the amazing foods being cooked. Even though the story was short I loved getting to know the characters. I'd love to read more like this from the author in the future!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not sure how to review this book. It has a promising start, but then it felt as if all of the rest was missing. A development, an ending. A plot, actually. This book has a lot of cooking and description of meals, some dialogues (which are interesting and made me want more of them) and few explanations. While listening to the audiobook, I kept waiting for something to happen and… nope. 2 stars, because the dialogues towards the end were interesting and creative, but before that I was honestly considering giving it 1 star. Maybe I didn’t understand the book, or it’s not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this Audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I want to read Wong's "A Thousand Li" series and when I found this audiobook on Netgalley, I was just curious to discover this author's writing style in this Novella.

This was a foody cozy fantasy kind of novella about a Malaysian restaurant or a hole in the wall in Toronto with not really nice magical creatures. To be honest, I felt like I was reading a cook book at some point. The story felt really missing to the point that I started to think that the author was just trying something with no plot at all in this genre (Cozy Fan) to see if it might work. Nope, it didn't work for me.
I liked the narrator's voice which was really relaxing.

I was really excited to read this Novella. I thought it would be a fantasy in this magical restaurant and that we would get an explanation of what is this restaurant, but in the end it reads a bit like a cook book mixed with the introduction of a fantasy novel.

The story doesn’t really go anywhere - which is ok this is the first of a series it seems - but it also doesn’t give enough background for the power dynamics between magical creatures: genies are bed? fairies are good? I needed a bit more.

A minor complication for me is that the female characters have similar names so it’s hard to keep track when you doing have a lot of context yet.

I think this reads a bit like an introduction to a longer story that I would love to read, hence the 3 stars and not 2.

Audiobook received for free through NetGalley

I absolutely loved this book and would love to fall back into this world to discover more about the characters. Thanks for the short but great story.

The novella „The Nameless Restaurant“ by Tao Wong takes place in a magical, hidden restaurant in Toronto. We follow the in depth cooking process of some traditional Malaysian main dishes and desserts and explore conflicts and beliefs of some of the guests.

I’m torn on this one. On the one hand I found the setting really cozy and liked the description of the cooking process. I felt my mouth water while reading it! I definitely need to try out Malaysian cuisine! It reminded me of those YouTube videos where you can watch someone prepare traditional dishes around the world. It’s calming. I also liked the idea of adding magic into the story. A place where magic folk and normal people meet and enjoy a delightful meal sounds amazing- especially while a storm is raging outside.
I also have to highlight the stellar audiobook narration by Emily Woo Zeller that really immersed me into the cooking!

On the other hand there where multiple subjects that pulled me out of the story. Some of the topics like fracking, the pandemic and „Karens“ just didn’t work well in this cozy setting. It also felt like the autor wanted to do more worldbuilding through the conversations but it just came across as a bit convoluted.

I would assume that the sequel deals with different guests visiting the restaurant so I would give it a try! Seeing the chef explore a different cuisine would definitely be fun!

A big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Dreamscape Lore for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Do not read this book on empty stomach! You’ve been warned. The food descriptions are amazing! Hope you have a southeast Asian cook or restaurant near at hand!
This short read is a warm up. It basically introduces the characters and their ability level. The high point is the council’s discussion of how magic should be used especially when it comes to pandemics!
This should not be your first fantasy read. The reader is expected to know terms such as ward, jin, mage, glower, etc.

⚠️Content: food and eating, Karens, pandemic

🏳️‍⚧️ Representation: male, female cis characters, mostly Asian

🎁Gift to: a foodie, fantasy lover

Interesting premise but I’m not really sure what I just read/listened to. It seemed like snippets of conversations during a dinner hour and I felt like I came into a novel halfway through. The dishes sounded appetizing and made me hungry but eventually the description took away from what little story there really was. This was a miss for me but I’m not generally a lover of fantasy so maybe I missed something because of this.

I am not sure what I just listened to, but it sure kept me listening and went by super quickly.

This is my first Tao Wong book, a novella, and he made me curious enough to go look at his bio. He's a sci fi writer who has written a couple dozen, always includes food in the genre because he is both a foodie and a believer that "food is such an intrinsic bonding experience" for many. And, to be honest, I think that appreciate of food is what kept me listening. This audio book, at around 3 hours, tells the story of a hidden restaurant, those who find it and a world where some folks have magical abilities.

This is not an action packed book, it is layers and a slow burn and I encourage you to give it a try when it releases on June 1, 2023.

The Nameless Restaurant is a quietly written and interesting novella length intro to a new fantasy cooking series by Tao Wong. Due out 1st June 2023, it's 125 pages and will be available in ebook and audio formats.

This is a quirky entirely setting driven novella which is background and world building for a presumed upcoming series based in and around a hidden fantasy restaurant in modern day Toronto. The restaurant is the work of one cook (who is more or less immortal) and his waitress, a perky young woman who lost her family to a magical attack.

For foodies who like fantasy, this might fill the bill. There are extensive, admittedly interesting, descriptions of food and cooking. The author *clearly* has done his research. The food in this installment is entirely Southeast Asian inspired. Despite being a huge fan of Malaysian, Thai, and Korean food, he describes ingredients and cooking methods of which I was previously unaware.

Reading/listening to the book will probably make readers hungry. Not recommended for late night reading unless one is in a large metropolitan area with 24 hour takeaway eateries conveniently accessible.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 3 hours and 11 minutes and is capably narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. She has a nuanced, neutral accent, and a young voice. She does a good job with the disparate accents (a djinn, a frost giant, and others) and long, very involved descriptions of cooking and the resultant dishes produced.

There are a fair number of restaurant based fantasy settings, from Spider Robinson's Callahan series to Travis Baldree's Legends and Lattes, to 2021's buzz book Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune. This one is a *lot* more food intensive and a lot less plot driven than any of those, but it might whet the appetite. It's an indie published story, and there isn't any indication in the review materials when the next installment is coming, but it does seem to be in the works.

Three and a half stars. Short and interesting read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.