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.

This was such a delightful and magical novella! I was not familiar with Wong's work, but will definitely be looking him up. I am also wholeheartedly looking forward to additional entries in this particular series. I loved the blend of magical and mundane, and the narration also danced that fine line between matter of fact and matter of fantasy. This felt like an installment in the middle of a series, rather than an introduction, but I didn't mind. It felt whole and complete as a standalone, although it did raise a lot of questions in my mind that I look forward to having answered in future installments!

I would like to tast the dishes described in this novella as I found them mouthwatering. It's a bit weird as we meet different type ot magical creatures who are eating at the restaurant.
There's nearly no plot but I had fun in listening to the descriptions of food and creatures.
There's a lot of potential and I hope there will be more stories in the future.
The narrator did an excellent job.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

3 stars for the good vibes

This book had all the cozy feels and a really rich setting, however I’m still waiting for the story to start. This kinda read like a prologue novella, introducing us to the magical nameless Asian restaurant -which I would love to visit- and a cast of interesting fae characters, but it felt very incomplete and didn’t really work for me as an independent story.
The writing while enthusiastic and lyrical it was also quite green. This really needed more focus and lacked three major parts of a story: a beginning, a middle and an end. This was more just a snapshot of a night at a restaurant with a huge number of food and cooking descriptions, and a little taste of some pretty cool characters, that I wanted to know so much more about. It did make me hungry though but I felt like I was reading a cooking show not a short novel.

Small note on the writing: the pleonasm in this was quite annoying.
‘More importantly, practicing with the wok was important’
‘Never took proper care to do a job properly’
These kinds of redundant sentences are pervasive throughout and it gives this an inexperienced and unpolished feel. I’d love to see a good editor get in there to smooth out these rough parts.

Any yet I’d still be interested to see what else this author can come up with and read a more complete work from them in the future. The narration was excellent and I felt calm and relaxed while listening to this. Not a bad experience overall but also, lots of room for improvement.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape for an advanced copy of this audiobook, my opinions are my own.

Deliciously Cozy 🍜

What a magical and cozy read! Full of mouth watering food, fantastical characters, whimsy and magic - I am so excited to see where this series goes from here! It felt like a perfect mix of “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” and “Legends and Lattes” but with a original twist.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the gifted copy.

I received an audio copy of The Nameless Restaurant for an honest review from Net Galley and Dreamscape media. The NamelessRestaurant is an of-the- beaten path sort. If you find it, the decor is outdated, giving a homey vibe. Food dishes were cooked daily, something different each day, chosen on a whim by the owner and cook. The food is what people come back for. This had some Legends and Lattes vibes to it.