Okay, so this book is formulaic and for most, unexciting. However, it is also exceedingly charming, lovable, and delectable. You will not get a plot full of adventure and twists and turns. Once you've read one chapter, you will know what to expect in the next. There is something deeply soothing about that in combination with the easy banter between father and daughter and the rich descriptions of the meals. They captured the seasonal and regional emphasis of Japanese cuisine in a beautiful way.

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes" by Hisashi Kashiwai invites readers back again into the enchanting world of the Kamogawa Diner, a place where food is not just sustenance but a bridge to forgotten memories and emotional healing. Chef Nagare and his daughter Koishi, through their culinary prowess, act as food detectives, unlocking lost recipes and stirring dormant emotions within their customers.

Kashiwai weaves a delicate tapestry of stories, each centered around a customer whose life is touched and transformed by the dishes served at Kamogawa Diner. From an Olympic swimmer seeking reconciliation with his father to a pop star reminiscing about a moment of success, each narrative unfolds with warmth and sensitivity. The novel's strength lies in its ability to evoke nostalgia and introspection, drawing readers into the emotional journeys of its characters.

The prose is evocative, painting vivid scenes of Kyoto and the flavors that define its culinary landscape. Kashiwai's writing is gentle yet poignant, capturing the subtle nuances of human relationships and the powerful role that food plays in connecting past and present.

While the premise of culinary therapy and lost recipes may seem whimsical, Kashiwai handles it with sincerity, avoiding sentimentality and instead delivering heartfelt narratives that resonate long after the book is finished. Fans of tender, character-driven stories such as 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold' will find much to love in this novel.

Overall, "The Restaurant of Lost Recipes" is a delightful read that blends food, memory, and emotional healing into a satisfying literary dish. Kashiwai's second book charms with its heartfelt storytelling and leaves a lingering taste of warmth and nostalgia.

Number 2 in this series and just as delightful as the first. I suggested last time that this is recommended for foodies and anyone who wants something a little different. Written as a series of very short stories, easy to get through and a nice break from the ordinary.

We are back at the Kamogawa diner for more food detective work. This book resembled the first one with 6 different people looking for their special dishes. Although it was very similar to the first book, the stories were new and interesting. It was a calming, cozy read and I could read these stories forever.

This book was wonderfully soothing, and a perfect follow up to the first one. I read the chapters for one recipe each night, and it was the perfect pleasant end to my day.

I was not familiar with this author when I took a chance on downloading the ARC I have no regrets. I am only half way through the book and am already loving the premise and the stories. I would highly recommend this book for those who like reading about food and Japanese food in particular as well as those who enjoy a great story wrapped around that food. I'm a big fan of the Midnight Diner/Tokyo stories on Netflix and found this book very reminiscent of the vibe created when I watched those two series.
So far The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is a series of sweet, poignant, enlightening, and deliciously told stories of the power of food to surface long forgotten memories; some wonderful, some difficult but always sought and subsequently better understood and appreciated.. It is also about the power of food and the the delight it brings to us when it is lovingly made and served (presentation here is as important as flavor) and how it can unite and reunite us with our childhoods, lost friends, and distant relatives.
The premise is incredibly engaging: a retired police detective turned chef Mr. Nagare and his daughter Koishi hold themselves out as food detectives. They advertise their services in a simple one line ad in a gourmet food magazine as well as by word of mouth from the magazine's editor, and from there, those who are seeking to find lost recipes find their way to the Kamogawa Diner an unpretentious eatery, have a great meal that seems to provide near ogasmic delight and are able through some creative detective work on the part of Mr. Nagare, to satisfy their need to recreate what on the surface is a lost recipe but is really a lost memory. I must admit that when reading the experiences of the diners, many of my own near forgotten food/family related memories easily came to the surface and I found myself commiserating with the diners and admiring Nagare and Koishi and the zeal with which they go about helping their clients.

I love a feel-good-read so when the opportunity to read and review an early copy became available, I jumped at the chance! The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is the second book in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series. It is every bit as heartwarming as the first.
Nagare and Koishi, father/daughter, are still helping their clients get in touch with their feelings through food. They are also softening in their actions toward each other. I was pleased to see Drowsy Cat make an appearance again, too. My list of Japanese dishes to sample is getting longer. All the food descriptions make me hungry.
I recommend this comfort read to cozy mystery readers, general feel-good fiction readers, and to foodies who enjoy reading about Japanese cuisine.
Thank #NetGalley #PenguinGroupPutnam #GPPutnamSons for allowing me to read an early copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
#TheRestaurantofLostRecipes #NetGalley ***Coming October 8, 2024***

Really sweet and simple. While it didn’t delve too deep into the problems the characters experienced, the setting and the template of food was worth every page.

My advice before reading this book? Order all sorts of Japanese food from tendon rice, ramen, sashimi and basically everything else you can find because this book will make your mouth water and crave those foods.

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is the second book in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series, so if you have read the first book, you should know what to expect. People go to this diner/food detective agency to find the food that they long for but cannot find anymore due to various reasons. Koishi manages the agency, while Nagare, her father and the chef, will do his best to do his detective work to recreate the dish. The cat on the cover is Drowsy (thought everyone should know). You don't really need to read the first book before starting this one, but I'd recommend reading the first book just to see if you'll like the second book.

This is a cosy book, very easy to read in one sitting, although you can also choose to finish one chapter and then leave it to come back again for a new dish! It is even better if you are also eating the food I mentioned before. I ended up ordering tendon rice thanks to one of the chapters in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hisashi Kashiwai, and Penguin Group Putnam for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The second book in the The Kamogawa Food Detectives series, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes, by Hisashi Kashiwai is just as cozy and hunger-inducing as the first. This book is a quick read with delicious food descriptions and clever storylines!

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is a sequel to the Kamogawa Food Detectives, which introduced us to Koishi and her father Nahare who run a Kyoto diner that also offers a detective service that will track down and recreate lost meals. Overall, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is a very good second entry that is tonally similar to the first: gentle plot arcs that are peppered with beautiful descriptions of food and restorations of spirit. At the same time, readers definitely do not have to read the first entry to understand the second. To that, my one critique is that the relationship between Koishi and Nahare was somewhat repetitive but, to the extent there was something new, with slightly sharper edges to it that were offered without much in the way of either explanation or resolution. Still, a lovely gentle read!

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is a sequel. It has just been recently translated and popped up on my Netgalley account.
This Japanese restaurant is a nondescript establishment. Patrons come in and are served a meal of delectable delights that play wonderfully on each ones pallette.
Yet, it is not the food these patrons seek. Each one has a need to find a recipe lost to them years before. Patrons are looking for foods from their childhood, college days or other reasons.
Each patron sits down for a predetermined meal and afterward seeks consultation of their personal lost recipe.The daughter interviews and asks pertinent questions about Rach lost recipe. The chef father travels and follows the clues. The book is philosophical and endearing each time a patron begins to eat and savor their newly found lost recipe.
Each meal is richly described with cuisine and asks ingredients that I would guess could only be found in Japan. Not once was there teriyaki, a California roll or edamame. They were so exquisite and exotic sounding, this trader wants to travel all over Japan simply to eat.

Koishi and her father Nagare run a restaurant and a food detective agency. People come to them asking for special foods from their past, childhood favorites, foods shared with lost family members, and food that brings the memories alive. It's a delicious book of short stories tied together by the love of food and the memories that need rekindling. Their unassuming little restaurant has a five star quality chef and a compassionate attitude toward the importance of special recipes thought to be lost in time. It's a healing experience that takes one back to your own food memories. It's well-told, uniquely plotted, and leaves you wanting more. Loved it. Now I'm hungry.

The second book in this series and I loved it just as much as the first one. Because food makes the perfect cozy mystery. And I love the father daughter bonds, and how their restaurant is a door to the past.

A very cozy read for anyone who loves food and it’s magic. While charming in its set up and string of stories, I found the translation/voice of the text to be a bit difficult to connect to as it felt a little dry and stiff. The chapters/stories do start to blend together as well, but if you’re a fan of cozy books (I’m finding more and more that I am not) and food, definitely check this one out!

Nagare and his daughter Koishi return as the father-daughter duo of the Kamogawa Food Detectives. First, Kyosuke, a swimmer from Oita, requests his dad’s nori-ben (rice & nori) as he longs to repair his relationship with his father upon his deteriorating health. Kana, a food writer from Hirosaki, requests her father’s hamburger steak on behalf of her son, Yusuke. Yoshi and Masayuki, bakers from Fushimi, request a Christmas cake that was served at their son’s memorial to have some closure over his death. Hatsuko, a model friend of Koishi from Yawatahama, requests fried rice so she can make a dish for her fiance that truly represents who she is and where she comes from. Katsuji requests ramen from a yatai stall he frequented in college with his friends so he can remind himself of his youth and relate more to his son. Keiko, a singer from Ishinomaki, requests ten-don so she can reminisce on her first days in Tokyo as she prepares to leave the city for good to take care of her parents. The nostalgic dishes all share a simplicity and remind us how food connects us all.

One of my favorite examples of the vivid descriptions used of Japenese food in the book was describing a meal at the Kamogawa diner: First, the sashimi: soy-marinated tuna with a wasabi dressing, fresh slices of tuna, and thin-sliced sea bream smeared with sesame-seed paste. Dashi-maki omelet; miniature tilefish sushi; boiled hon-shimeji mushrooms and mizuna leaves in a bonito flake and soy sauce dressing; a pickled turnip cut into chrysanthemum flowers. These skewers are quail balls, steamed prawn, and salted smashed cucumber.

Thank you to Hisashi Kashiwai, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publishing, Jesse Kirkwood, and Net Galley for the advanced reader’s copy of “The Restaurant of Lost Recipes.”

Father-daughter duo Koishi and Nagare run a restaurant in central Kyoto that has no sign, no advertisements apart from a single line in Gourmet Monthly magazine: “We Find Your Food.” Koishi and Nagare run a detective agency, promising to help their customers find foods that only exist in memory, to taste them one more time. In the second book of the eight-book Kamogawa Food Detectives series, new characters make their way to the diner, each of them bringing a memory of a food they wish could be recreated.

Ten years after their original publish dates in Japan, the Kamogawa Food Detectives books are being translated for release stateside, one by one. For science, I picked up the first book in the series from my local library to determine whether readers need to read the first book to enjoy the second. To that point, it’s not necessary, but it does benefit the overall reading experience. The first chapter of the first book explains a bit more about the background of the characters, particularly Nagare’s occupation as a former detective before he opened his restaurant. That said, if the only book you can find is The Restaurant of Lost Recipes, I won’t dissuade you from picking it up. There are enough context clues to get by on your own, and this book has told some of my favorite food stories so far.

The chapters are wonderfully episodic - perfect for a wind-down before bed or an escape during your lunch break. There is some repetition from chapter to chapter, which may grate on some readers but for me it feels like when I used to read books like The Hardy Boys or The Babysitter’s Club as a kid; each chapter refreshes the reader’s memory on why the characters do what they do and how they go about solving these food mysteries.

Because you’re not meant to fly through these books. You are meant to pick them up, read a chapter or two, and put them down until you’re ready to read again. The writing is straightforward, uncomplicated in the best kind of way. Like a well-made bowl of soup, the simple ingredients (words) come together in harmony, allowing you to savor each bite (story).

Admittedly, I think I was always going to love these books. Food connects us to our most deeply-held, cherished memories. It’s nostalgia. It’s joy. It’s how we show our love for one another, and for ourselves. Food aspect aside, the Kamogawa Diner is set in the Shimogyo Ward of Kyoto, on one of the streets near the Shosei-en Garden. I stayed in the same neighborhood (one block away!) seven months ago when visiting Kyoto for my honeymoon. This cozy series transports me back to those gorgeous fall days. I can’t wait for the whole series to be translated; I will delight in each and every one.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Hisashi Kashiwai, and Penguin Group Putnam for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

This is the second book about the food detectives of Kamogawa Diner by this author I have read. Chef Nagare and Koishi are back and helping their customers rediscover their favorite recipes and the lost memories associated with them. Each chapter is devoted to a different customer. I was happy to see Drowsy, the cat, appear in each chapter. This is a quick and enjoyable read. Thanks to the author Hisashi Kashiwai, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I adored Kamogawa Food Detectives and this one follows much the same pattern. A customer appears, gets served the set menu of the day with detailed descriptions of a vast array Japanese foods I'm only partially able to truly appreciate, gets sent to the back office to be interviewed about the recipe they want recreated, and two weeks later they come back to the father-daughter duo successfully recreating a precious culinary memory. Honestly it was starting to feel a bit repetitive, but it's such a short collection of these tales
But every time a guest is moved to tears, and each section end with Koishi and Nahare bantering about Kikuko, are repetitive elements that are intentionally the human grounding of this story collection..

WARNING: This book is NOT to be read when hungry. This is full of the most mouth-watering descriptions of asian cuisines from japan. The recipes described hold such a special place in mind to the people seeking help from the food detectives, and every one has their own story and intentions. This book was sweet, salty, and tangy.