Heart-warming and mouth-watering. This six-chapter book follows a father and daughter who create dishes of sentimental value. This was such a feel-good book--definitely something to revisit when you need a little warmth in your life!

***Thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the eARC copy of this book. My opinions are my own. This book comes out tomorrow!***

“The Kamogawa Food Detectives” was originally published in Japan in 2013 and has just been translated into English for those of us in the United States.

Nagare Kamogawa and his daughter, Koishi, run the Kamogawa Diner, a small non-descript restaurant in Kyoto, Japan. They make delicious food, but their speciality is in their so-called food detecting skills. Customers come to them with a memory of a specific dish that they used to eat that they would like recreated. And the Kamogawas “investigate” the dish and recreate it. And the customer gets closure or an answer to a specific situation.

I liked this and didn’t like this all at the same time.

My likes are that the stories are sweet and cozy. The food sounds amazing. It’s the kind of book that you want to read curled up under a blanket on a rainy day. And also that it’s Japanese. I haven’t read a lot of Japanese authors and I am trying to diversify my reading.

My dislikes, I think, are mainly with the publishers and with how they presented this book. The book isn’t really one cohesive story. It’s six independent short stories. And they are VERY repetitive - to the point that I wanted to throw it against the wall when I started the last one and yet again, it was the same as the first five. I’m only slightly exaggerating here, but it was like a MadLibs story. It’s like there was a template and and the author just filled in the blanks with a new character and a new dish. But everything else about each story was the same - down to the description of the hallway or the exterior of the restaurant. How many times do I need to be told what the hallway looks like?

Maybe this is a translation problem. Maybe the translator made everything sound the same, I don’t know. But if this book was presented as a book of short stories, I may have enjoyed the experience better. I’ve been wondering if back when this was originally published, if the stories were published individually of each other in a monthly magazine or something and then they were collected in this volume, because that would also explain things. But the ARC that I read came with zero explanation.

Also, the way in which the stories are told is very different to way Americans tell stories. This is not a detective story in the way Americans think of a detective story. In this book, each short story is divided into two parts. In the first part, the customer comes to the restaurant and tells the duo about the dish they want recreated with some clues to its origin. The second part, the customer comes back two weeks later and the father tells the customer what he did to find the recipe and then he presents the dish. The customer gets closure. The end. We never get a middle investigative section. It’s very peculiar from a Western standpoint. I wonder and think it’s highly likely that I’m culturally missing something. Like I know that different cultures tell stories in different ways. And they have different tropes. And there are things that are intrinsic to their culture that I’m ignorant of. And that’s all completely fair and valid. Westernized culture isn’t and shouldn’t be considered the cultural standard. But I do think that IF that is the case here, then the publishers should have had an introduction to explain things.

Or have marketed this differently as a collection of short stories. Because there isn’t a lot intrinsically wrong with these stories outside of the repetition. I don’t not recommend it. It’s about 200 pages long, divided into 6 stories. You could maybe read one a night before bed. But I do think going into this book with the correct mind frame about what you’re getting into would help a lot. Because it is sweet and cozy and heartwarming and yummy.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives
The Kamogawa Food Detectives Series - Book 1
Disclaimer - This is Not a Romance Genre Book
By Hisashi Kashiwai, Translated by Jesse Kirkwood

G.P. Putnam's Sons - February 2024 (US English)

Fiction


Have you ever had a meal that is often remembered, but never duplicated? That one meal that haunts you, beacause there is something unique to the dish? Then if you are in Japan and able to get to Kyoto, you are in luck. Nagare and his daughter Koishi run a restaurant, but in the back is where the magic is. People come, Koishi interrogates them, then Nagare uses his past skills as a police officer to track down the unique ingredients and recipes.

This is not a story where there is an overlaying story arc, instead it is really a series of short stories. A person will come, tell them about the dish and memories about the day, then they return and we discover if Nagare was able to work his magic.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a fascinating glimpse into Japanese culture and cuisine. I loved the descriptions of the various meals and of the places the different characters had been. Since the storylines really don’t connect, it is a nice read for when you have short bursts of time. There is also a resident cat who makes occasional appearances named Drowsy. A perfect name for a cat. It says there is a second book, and I will definitely keep an eye out for it.

Kathy Andrico - KathysReviewCorner.com

Lovely is the best way to describe this novel. This book has been translated from Japanese and the story and culture are fascinating. The plot revolves around a chef and his adult daughter. They own a small restaurant and are quietly known to help people discover recipes for food that they are longing to eat. They work as detectives to track down the recipes for these special costumers. The food is described in beautiful detail. Each chapter tells a unique story.
This novel is unique and heartwarming. I am now longing for a trip to Japan.

From the first line, I plummeted into the vivid, magical world of THE KAMOGAWA FOOD DETECTIVES. Father and daughter work creatively and with heartfelt devotion to recreate favorite dishes for those grieving, stuck indecisive, and needing the grounding of memorable foods. Poignant, touching, wonderfully imagined, and skillfully told, this story entranced me and left with me with happy memories of a story so well told. What I particularly liked was how the past can add savor to the present, reminding a person of who they are at heart -- and the believable relationship between daughter and father. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

I enjoyed this new translation by Jesse Kirkwood of the popular Japanese novel by Hisashi Kashiwai. It offers a nostalgic look at Japanese food culture, as customers hire a food detective to recreate dishes that evoke strong emotions from their past. The culinary descriptions are lush and detailed, and the Kyoto setting is beautifully written. The father and daughter (father the chef, and daughter who runs the business) have a nice interaction, that suits the dreamlike nature of the book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Kawogawa Food Detectives is the first in a new series by Hisashi Kashiwai--a translation from the original Japanese book. I was enchanted by the idea of someone being able to re-create a special dish from a person's past. The food descriptions were so interesting, I found a few dishes I hope to try when the soon-to-come Japanese restaurant opens in our small town. The author presents each food case in a snapshot story. I really enjoyed the main characters, a retired from the police father, who investigates, and his thoroughly modern daughter, the cook. I do look forward to more in this series.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives was just what I needed to get through a cold January. A cozy compilation of heartwarming stories, told with mouth watering descriptions of Japanese delectables, I couldn’t put this one down! Each story quietly got under your skin, and I found myself reflective yet touched by its warmth. I loved the characters in this book - there wasn’t as much depth to the protagonists as I usually enjoy but the stories of the characters they encountered made up for it. If you liked Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this maybe up your alley! If you’re a foodie, be warned this book will be the ultimate tease 😊

This book is sweet but repetitive. 6 chapters, each one split in 2: first a guest arrives at the well-hidden restaurant/detective agency, is interviewed about the food they’d like to re-experience, and then they come back and are served the requested dish along with some tidbits about the detective work. The book has 2 things going for it: it is comforting and it is really well translated, with particular attention to the ingredients. There is no overarching plot, and not much character development, but there is a cat.

Unfortunately, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a DNF for me. I know "food" is in the title but it was way too much food talk for me and the detective portion was not enough for me to be entertained. I was interested in the premise but it just didn't work for me.

When I saw this book, I didn't expect a gritty mystery and thought it would be something like The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith with a little bit of mystery included in a beautiful story. However, I wouldn't classify The Kamogawa Food Detectives as a mystery at all. It is more along the lines of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series with a series of different stories connected by a common theme. 
Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, who is a former police detective, run a small restaurant in Kyoto, Japan, and occasionally help special customers who want help recreating an important dish from their past. The book has six chapters, each telling the story of a different customer. Most of the stories are touching and bittersweet. The book starts with a man who wants to taste a certain dish his late wife used to make before moving on in his life in a new marriage and ends with a successful young man who wants to taste a specific stew that his deceased mother used to make for him. Each story is brief, so I didn't connect with most of the characters.

Each chapter follows the same formula with a customer locating the hard-to-find restaurant and giving as much information as possible about the dish and their memories of that special food. Koishi is the one who interviews the customers and she can come across as abrupt and sometimes judgmental. She then passes the information on to her kinder and wiser father who leaves the restaurant to ask questions and source the necessary ingredients. 

I wish we got to see Nagare's "food detecting" unfold, but instead when the customer comes back to the restaurant, he serves the meal and explains the research he did to recreate it.  This makes the book more passive and less engaging than it could be. There is a very brief overall ending to the book with a sweet scene between Koishi and her father. This book wasn't what I thought it would be, but I enjoyed most of the chapters even though I wish there was more to them. Most of all, it was an interesting look at some of the customs of Kyoto and Japanese cuisine. (3.5 stars)

I received an advance copy of this ebook at no cost from NetGalley and Putnam Books. My review is voluntary and unbiased.

Set in Kyoto, Japan, this quick read focuses on a nondescript restaurant specializing in recreating impactful dishes that individuals describe from their memories. It’s not necessarily the meal itself, but the circumstances surrounding the meal that burn in people’s memories. The father-daughter “food detectives” create a past food memory for those who visit the restaurant, oftentimes leading their customers to clearer understandings. and to move into the future. This book, the first in a series, is pegged for those who enjoyed the series When the Coffee Gets Cold - I would describe this book as a much, much lighter version of that series. WTCGC series is more layered and delves more deeply into the relationships in each “episode” than in this book. Overall, this was a light and quick read - enjoyable but not as memorable. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

So delightful!

Talk about food for the soul! An out of the way, humble diner in Kyoto that serves up the most wonderful traditional Japanese meals. The place is not easy to locate. There’s no signs or directions. You really have to want to find it. Nagare Kamogawa and his daughter Koishi run the small eating house. Nagare is the chef, Koishi waits tables. On the detecting side of the business, Koishi takes down the information for people who are searching for how a particular dish from their memory is cooked. Nagare is the detective. All the client has to go on is a one line advertisement in the Gourmet Monthly magazine. At the end of each case Koishi and Nagare ask their client to pay into an account how much their solving of the case was worth to them. Nagare cooks the dish the client has sought.
People come to find the dish their mother might have cooked, the meal they remember as a child with their grandfather, a myriad of unusual requests.
The dishes are sublime. I’m spending an inordinate amount of time looking them up (in my own cookbooks and online) The dishes are served on designated plates and types of pottery ware from all around Japan. I’ve also been looking some of those up in my fav. Japanese tableware shop.
This is just such a wonderfully encouraging read. You can feel the texture of the dishes arrayed, almost taste them. The color and movement, the descriptions of places I’ve visited are so evocative. Swoon worthy! The people find understanding, warmth and friendship. Some return.
A startling, yet humbly sumptuous read that made me long for such a place.

A Putnam ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

What an absolute charmer! This is truly the comfort food of detective novels. Translated from the Japanese, it is the story of Nagare Kamogawa and his daughter Koishi who endeavor to re-create favorite memory-filled recipes from people’s past, all of which they do from their restaurant, advertising their detective business via cryptic ads in the local culinary rag.

It was fun reading about the lengths to which they would go in order to do so to present their client with exactly what he or she was looking for. I have to admit, being unfamiliar with Japanese food as I am, that the names of food stuffs and vessels frequently sent me googling, but I came away from this book feeling as though I had learned a great deal not only about the culture and the people of Japan, but about the cuisine as well.

The book is made up of six individual sections, each of which reads like a short story. I struggled a bit with the names because, being immersed in western culture as I am, none of them were familiar enough to me to be able to 100% keep the characters straight, but I managed well enough. I loved being immersed in Japanese foodie culture, and where else would I find a phrase like “itinerary tofu salesman.” I loved every morsel of this book. As an aside, I must say that the translation is brilliant. Clearly, it was done by an Englishman, because phrases like “chalk and cheese,” “let’s tuck in,”and “mum” appear throughout, brought me a smile every time they did.

If you enjoy learning about other cultures, or appreciate truly fine food writing, this is absolutely the book for you. You will fall in love with Nagare and Koishi. I highly recommend it.

This was perfect warm and cozy reading for a day when I was down with a cold and needed something light and soothing.

An enigmatic advertisement in Gourmet Monthly brings people to the Kamogawa Diner where they meet up with Nagere and his daughter Koishi, food detectives. The clients are in search of a specific meal from their past, but, of course it is not just food they want to rediscover, “nostalgia is just as vital an ingredient.”

Each chapter is a different case and could easily stand alone, though there are a few recurring secondary characters. However the collection as a whole builds up a charmingly comforting rhythm. The food descriptions are evocative, the clients’ responses are joyful, and the relationship between Koishi and her father is delightful.

This is a book that possibly on any other day I would have found to be too slight and simple but was perfect for a day curled up in bed craving any one of the delicious meals that Nagere conjured up.

Thanks to Putnam and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto is a very special restaurant. run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare. Although the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals, that's not the main reason customers stop by . .The father-daughter duo are 'food detectives'. Visitors come to them, describing a dish they would give anything to have just one more time. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person’s treasured memories – dishes that may well hold the keys to their forgotten past and future happiness. The restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to vanished moments, creating a present full of possibility.

This book is reminiscent of "Before the Coffee Gets Cold". The book is told in a collection of stories, with each story being a different patron to the restaurant, looking to recreate a memory from their past. Nagare sprinkles little life lessons and bits of wisdom along with the dishes he serves up. This is book one of the series.

While I appreciate that this book is more like 6 short stories than a complete novel, I found them all to be SO identical that I was annoyed. Legitimately could have summarized each one with the exact same 5 steps.

NetGalley ARC

This is the coziest of cozy books. A father and daughter restaurateurs team up to replicate beloved dishes from their client's pasts. They are Food Detectives.

Their clients come to them to find childhood dishes, a dead wife's recipe and everything in between. The stories of the different clients are full of nostalgia and are very poignant. Often times, it's an exercise in moving on.

The descriptions of Japanese food are amazing, it feels like you're there. This is a special book that will really lift your mood.

This was a really great read. Touching and easy to digest. My only complaint would be that the translation felt a bit formal at times and some of the phrasing used seemed a bit too modern for the time the book was written. But I’m willing to overlook that because the story itself was so enjoyable to read.

A sweet novel that will make you hungry. Former police detective Nagare Kamogawa has turned his talents to helping people relive and taste again food that's been in their minds for years. He, along with his daughter Koishi, run a small, unassuming restaurant in Kyoto where they make those dreams come true. Each chapter features a different client reminiscing and the results of the Kamogawa's efforts. There are small gems here. Nothing dramatic, nothing horrid, nothing distressing - this is the sort of read that is perfect for when you need a positive. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. It was, understandably, a hit in Japan and it's nice to see it published in the US- a good read.