Audio review

This series!! Such a hidden gem. If the writing of Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree didn't work for you, but you still want to read about cozy vibes of a business running and the patrons inside (also set in a fantasy world) - highly recommend this novella series.

Emily Woo Zeller does a great job narrating. The writing dips into the weeds on cooking in a restaurant and serving the patrons, but in an all vibes no plot comforting way. There's magic, there's regulars, there's pineapple upside down cake. This was the cozy I needed.

This is a delightful novella which can be read as a standalone although it is a sequel. This story provide a slice of life in a magical restaurant in Toronto, which attracts supernatural and 'mundane' guests. This is for readers who do not need action, but rather life lived in real time. It will especially attract readers who enjoy food related books. The audio narrator is fantastic.
I would recommend this to readers who enjoy a cozy slow story which gives off that cozy feel.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

To be honest, I hadn't even read the first book. I picked this one up not realizing there was a first book and absolutely loved it. It was a short book but full of imagery and food descriptions that honestly made me hungry, it reminded me a bit of an anime I watched not too long ago called "Restaurant In Another World" which I also loved.

The characters were compelling and full of depth and the narrator (I read it on audio) is one of my favorites, Emily Woo Zellar. She always does an amazing job of capturing each character and giving them a voice. A perfect combination of well written and well spoken.

This book is great on it's own, but I assume even better as a series. I liked it so much now I will have to read the first one and let you know!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

As more people start coming to The Nameless Restaurant, Mo Meng has to deal with new problems like customers who are too curious, technology that gets in the way, and friends who may not like changes.

This is a very cozy listen. The busy restaurant scenes and magical interactions in the story are strangely calming. But be warned — the descriptions of the food and cooking are bound to make you hungry.

I have not listened to the previous installment, so I sometimes had trouble understanding the point of the story. As it is a super quick read or listen, the story stopped before I could figure it out entirely. I picked this audiobook out for its cozy vibes, and that is exactly what I got. If you are looking for more storytelling than atmosphere building, this might not be the book for you, though. I would also recommend listening to the first part before coming to this one because I believe it would have greatly elevated by experience. If you are not a fan of abrupt endings, I would maybe also wait for other parts of the series to come out, so they can be listened to in one go.

Emily Woo Zeller did an excellent job with her narration (5/5 for the audiobook production), it was very fitting to the story. If the blurb appeals to you, I would recommend listening to the audiobook, because it really adds to the cozy experience. I think this audiobook would work well as a good night story or other instances in which you want to listen to a magical, calming tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review.

Chaotic Apéritifs by Tao Wong is the second audiobook in the Hidden Dishes Novella fantasy series featuring mage Mo Meng and his Nameless Restaurant. The restaurant is warded, but magic wielders are discovering it. Come see why I love this cozy urban fantasy.

I loved returning to the Nameless Resturant as Mo Meng decides what to prepare and guest chat around the tables. The story, like the first novella, takes place in one evening and I devoured it. Meng uses magical wards to hide the restaurant in Toronto from government officials and humans, but more and more people are discovering this cozy magical restaurant.

Meng serves a limited menu as conversations give way to intrigue and we discover that something from the first story had unexpected consequences.

I enjoy the characters from the hostess/waitress to the unusual guests. Meng’s menu will make your mouth water as you settle in for the evening meal. I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Emily Woo Zeller does a lovely job of narrating and pulled me into the story. These are under four hours and the perfect listen for a commute or evening at home.

As The Nameless Restaurant becomes more popular, Mo Meng faces new challenges including fading wards, new customers with prying eyes and intrusive technology, and old friends who may not be ready for a modern world. What’s on the menu tonight?

Listening to this book, my friends who’ve worked in the restaurant industry will likely reminisce over their serving days. Although I’m sure none of them have ever served the fantastical customers that grace The Nameless Restaurant. The details of a busy dinner service and interactions of the magical customers are strangely soothing. Meanwhile, the descriptions of the food and the cooking are delectably mouthwatering.

Rating: 3/5 ⭐️s - Nice short read with great food descriptions. If you’re a fantasy lover needing food inspiration, look no further. Or if you’re looking for your next meal with a side of fantasy, this book will give you some ideas. Solidly enjoyable and easy to read as a standalone. Chaotic Apertifs is the second of Tao Wong’s Hidden Dishes series. My biggest critique is that the brevity makes the overall storyline a little forgettable and challenging to connect with the characters. I was glad to get a little more insight into both Kelly’s and Mo Meng’s characters and their relationship. Would likely recommend listening over reading this book as the food comes alive with the descriptions and I found myself wondering if I should start cooking while I listened.

Thank you for this enjoyable and mouthwatering ARC read!

I did not know about this series or the author before I stumbled across this book on NetGalley. I was looking for something different and this looked like a nice quick story. I checked out and read the first Hidden Dishes book (The Nameless Restaurant) so I was repaired for the world where this was set. These are very cozy, food centered books. This book features a little less food descriptions than the first and a few more characters. I did miss the food a bit and would have liked for maybe one more course to have been featured. I think the stories about ingredients and their preparation are some of my favorite parts. Emily Woo Zeller is an excellent narrator and makes the descriptions even more engaging. I can feel the particles of a story dancing in the air and I keep paying attention so that when things come together I will be ready. Until then, the narrative is a touch lacking. I do think this one was better than the first, but I still can't quite tell you where everything is going or what's happening besides some supernatural characters and magic...and food. Overall still very enjoyable. Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media/Dreamscape Lore for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Don't read this when hungry! This novella is maybe 70% loving descriptions of food being made and being consumed, going into detail about the flavors and the experience of eating it. I love "magical food" as a trope (if it's prevalent enough to call it a trope), as well as magic mingling with the mundane. This is certainly a cozy read, and I didn't feel like I was lost diving into this one without reading the preceding novella.

However, since the food descriptions take up the majority of the novella, there's not much room left for much of a story. Getting lost in cozy descriptions of food is pleasant, but the hints at magic and other characters' backstories without getting into more detail left me, dare I say it, hungry for more.

A wonderful sequel to the cozy, slice of life urban fantasy featuring immortal beings pouring their hearts out at a quaint restaurant where Mo Meng, an archmage (retired), is just trying to live a peaceful life cooking good food. This sequel scored much better in intrigue than the first novella however, as an event in the first novella is shown to have direct knock-on effects in this book. What will happen next? I am happy to keep on with this series and find out.

I listened to this on audio and I just have to gush about Emily Woo Zeller. She has such a good voice, with the perfect balance of a soothing but dynamic cadence for a cozy story. If she stays on to narrate the rest of this series, you bet I will collect them all.

Thank you Dreamscape Media, the author and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I leave this review voluntarily.

This was every bit as delightful and charming as I expected. It made me very hungry, and also gave me some mildly stressful flashbacks of being a server on a busy night. 😂


I liked the variety of supernatural entities enjoying their meal. They were interesting characters. (I wanted to punch O though. God, she's obnoxious and smug.). The meal sounded so delicious 🤤. The setting and magic were interesting, but didn't take over the focus from the food and Mo's cooking.


The only thing I did not enjoy was the narrator. She made every character voice super annoying and was trying to hard to do her neutral news anchor impression when not doing horrible voices.

Okay, first of all this is just a great cozy cooking fantasy series, and honestly this second novella might be my favourite! Tao Wong uses a lot of classic fantasy elements and/or tropes (magic, mythology, etc) and lets them coincide in the fictional, nameless restaurant of Mo Meng, where the descriptions of all the different dishes made me a little sad that I couldn’t eat them. With this second installation in the series, I think it was nice to already have the general world established, while still getting new character interactions and more insight into characters like Kelly! The narration is also done by Emily Woo Zeller, who is already one of my favourite narrators, and she does an absolutely fantastic job of immersing the listener into the world! This isn’t the most in depth fantasy world or all that high stakes, but it’s a great way to spend an hour or two and let yourself enjoy the atmosphere of a magical restaurant where the food comes first.

Another very chill, very comfortable fantasy read. If you've ever wondered what something like Legends & Lattes would look like with WAY less plot, this is it. Very slice of life. Lots of deliciously detailed food descriptions. The vibe is "I'm hungry, but too comfortable on this couch to get up". Once again the characters are delightful and the ambience is perfect.

Chaotic Apéritifs is the second Hidden Dishes novella length fantasy cooking story by Tao Wong. Released 1st May 2024, it's 124 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is an entirely setting driven novella which is background and world building for a continuing novella arc/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 quirky sarcastic young woman who is currently his only employee. They cook for and serve a plethora of supernatural and mortal customers in the tiny venue.

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 and describes the cooking processes minutely and (oddly) fascinatingly.

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 28 minutes and is capably narrated by series narrator Emily Woo Zeller. She has a nuanced, neutral accent, and a young voice. She does a good job with the disparate accents (a dwarf, a giant, humans 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 according to the author's note in this novella, the eventual arc will contain 3-5 more stories and are intended to be able to be able to be read as standalones in any order..

Four stars. Short and engaging read.

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

Chaotic Aperitifs is the second novella in the Hidden Dishes series. I have not read the first one yet but these books can be read as a standalone but I definitely read the first one too. The novella was quite enjoyable, and one thing is for sure it made me hungry. As for the story, The story is easy to follow, and the narrative is whimsical. The author also includes a bit of world-building outside of the restaurant, which I found interesting and I hope we get to learn more. If you enjoy whimsical stories, I'd definitely recommend giving this series a try. I can't wait to read more of this no name restaurant with a magical chef. Emily Woo Zeller did an excellent job narrating the story. She definitely gives these characters an amazing voice. I'd highly recommend checking out the audiobook version too. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy.

This is a must-read series for people who like to eat. Read this if you want to be hungry or if you’re looking for a quick, calming read or listen in between heavier reads (with the caveat of the brief COVID-ish conversation in book one). Book two brings us back for another night to Mo Meng’s restaurant. This one has a smidge more magic and worldbuilding, and we learn a little bit more about the mysterious Mo Meng, which was all satisfying. Plot-driven readers or those looking for super fleshed out characters: this might not be everything you're looking for, but if it sounds interesting to you I encourage you to take a bite.

Emily Woo Zeller is one of my all-time favorite audiobook narrators, and she did a brilliant job with this series. Breezed through this and its prequel in less than 24 hours, and already cannot wait to return to the next dinner service at the Nameless Restaurant. Much like the first book, the story is set in one space and evening, albeit the clientele has grown significantly since the last time. Once again, important conversations between consequential supernatural beings are taking place while Mo Meng and Kelly try to get the menu of the day out to a wide range of regulars and mundane. I must say, the dishes served in this one weren't as interesting as the first book. While a very notable mage makes an appearance and a stir, and much internal reflection is had by the chef and those in his domain, it didn't quite grip me narratively as consistently as the first book. For once, I wished I could follow some of the diners outside the eatery and see what they're up to, and how meals by Mo Meng impact their existence in the mundane world.

I absolutely adore this series! The Nameless Restaurant is such a brilliant concept and I really love the way it is executed. Each story is a wholly original and imaginative slice of wonder that blends mythology and wit with absolutely delicious - pun fully intended - descriptions and characterizations.

The narration is spot on perfect, capturing the whimsy and cleverness of the text to a T. The books in this series literally cannot come out fast enough for my personal taste, and I was delighted that the next full book in the series was referenced at the end of this one!

Chaotic Apéritifs by Tao Wong and narrated by Emily Woo Zeller is a delightfully whimsical, unique and mellow fantasy that is very different from any I have ever listened to. One of the sweetest notions within is that of cooking by hand and not by magic in a world of the paranormal being the norm

The narration by Emily Woo Zeller suits the storyline perfectly and the gentle cadence is a wonderful accompaniment to what is a lovely story

The narrative is thoughtful, reflective and illustrative. A cozy of comfort and reflection. Beautifully written and almost a meditation which left me utterly blissed. A wonderful audiobook to relax with

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media | Dreamscape Lore, the author Tao Wong and narrator Emily Woo Zeller for this delightful ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own