The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai is the second book in The Kamogawa Food Detectives series. The first book in this series is one of my favorite books. Kashiwai has beautifully written about a father-daughter team who prepare special dishes for visitors from across Japan. These visitors will describe a dish that they would like prepared and the father-daughter team will research the recipe and prepare it for the customer. Each of these stories is heartwarming and I love this book series. However, each of the engagements has a very similar pattern and the second book becomes somewhat redundant. I love the stories but would love a little variety in Kashiwai's next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I adore this series! The food descriptions are vivid and make you want to try everything. The stories are incredibly touching. I especially loved the Christmas Cake one and thought the message was well delivered. The father-daughter relationship at the heart of the book is my favorite part overall, besides Drowsy's appearances. I would recommend the book to anyone who loves food writing, cozy reads, and those that loved books like "Before the coffee gets cold" and "The midnight library". An excellent read, thank you for giving me the opportunity to read it already.

These stories were little dramas: A woman who has fallen out of contact with her father tries to connect with her son, a couple who lost their son need to decide whether they "adopt" an apprentice, a woman must decide how to answer a marriage proposal, and more! They're all looking for that one meal from their past that will help them overcome some hurdle in their life. But no matter how hard they try they can't replicate that nostalgia - until they reach out to the Kamogawa Food Detectives!  

My favorite arc of the book was "Christmas Cake" where a couple, who own a traditional Japanese bakery, ask for the father-daughter food detectives to recreate the cake that was made for them as an offering after their son's death. The story was heartbreaking, even with how short it was, and of all the arcs this one seemed to have the most depth and development.

I wanted one more chapter for each arc (each character's story arc only lasted two chapters), but there is no third chapter with a final resolution. Every story's character had an issue they needed to resolve and their meal was the stepping stone to reach their final decision but then we never got to see their decision!

While you don't get to learn the final choices of these characters you can still find enjoyment in the descriptions of food and the vibes of each story but if you're someone who needs a definitive resolution then this book is not going to satisfy you 😋

Such a cute book. It made me feel very nostalgic and think about what meal I would love to recreate. Every person had an interesting backstory and even though some of them were sad the over all comfort of the book made you happy.

I'm not gonna lie, I requested this solely because of the cover. I mean, look at it, it's so cute! And the book is very wholesome. It's basically short stories where every chapter features a different person coming into the restaurant to solicit food detective services, which consists of finding dishes that the people don't know many details about or can't get the recipe of for one reason or another.

Each person has a story and learns something from having the dish recreated for them. It's a very simple premise with a straightforward execution. I admit it got a bit dull for me, but the stories and the descriptions of food made this a cozy, easy read overall.

nagare and koishi are back, solving mysteries and making their customers cry in the sequel to “the kamogawa food detectives,” “the restaurant of lost recipes.” drowsy is there, too.

i loved book 1 for its easy reading and light-heartedness, and book 2 is no different. both are, at their cores, books about food and how it connect us to our pasts and each other. they evoke those feelings of love, nostalgia, and hope or the future. if you have a love for food or even a curiosity for japanese cuisine, i think this is the perfect read for you.

I cannot wait for every book in this series to be translated! This was so full of joy and laughter, mixed with some very real feelings of sorrow. It made me tear up several times with how heartwarming it is. My favorite story in this was the fried rice one. The descriptions of food are so good, do not read when really hungry!

This book is something so unbelievably special. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting myself into when I requested it, but the description sounded unlike anything I had ever read and I was correct. Each little story it takes you on is a little journey inside the world of these people trying to find something through their food. Not only did it make me hungry hearing about all the incredible dishes that Nagare and his daughter Koishi cook up, but the healing these people do through the dishes they create is so beautiful. I was sobbing through each one. 10/10 I will be recommending this book to everyone. Thank you Hisashi Kashiwai for writing something so moving.

Very quick read. I didn’t know it was a sequel to another. I felt I was missing something important and didn’t connect to the story or characters.

I didn’t realize that this was part of a series until I finished, but I think it completely worked on its own too. It was so cozy and nostalgic and the concept seemed like a really inventive twist on a popular genre. The food descriptions were phenomenal and definitely left me pretty hungry!

Having read the first in this series, I was very happy to be able to read this one. I think I liked it even better than the first one. Each little story had wonderful food descriptions and being a fan of the city of Kyoto, I enjoy the setting greatly. Any reader will feel good reading this!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the translator for this book. It's simply lovely!

Hisashi Kashiwai's Kamogawa Food Detectives are back in this cozy and delicious bite of a novel. Each of the stories are beautiful and touching, filled with nostalgia and love. Each of the descriptions of the many meals the characters eat in this book made me wanting to jump on a plane to Kyoto. Highly recommend this book to all who need a cozy quick read.

Absolutely amazing. Quite frankly, an ultimate comfort read. There’s something so comforting about the way the stories are told here, and I read this exactly at the time I needed it.

10/10 recommend to everyone.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

A cozy, fantastic little slice of life mixed with likeable characters, and of course my favorite descriptions of food and the nostalgia it can bring. I really just enjoy reading these when I'm low, or when I've been reading a lot of stressful content. This is a light, bright, quick read.

I fell in love with the first book in the series, so I was so excited to get my hands on this one! I was not disappointed. It's such a quick read and left me feeling so cozy. The descriptions of the food are so great and always leave me wanting to learn to cook more! This one is pretty similar to the first book in the series, but we got a tiny bit more development in the characters. I would definitely recommend this entire series to anyone looking for something lighthearted and cozy to read.

Book 2 in this touching series is an absolute delight, as a father-daughter chef duo create delicious Japanese meals that evoke the most poignant memories. My mouth watered and tears, then joy, followed. A gem!

Just as fun as the first one! This is perfect for fans of "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" series.

And also, look at that cover! It's multiple stories in one with people healing through food. I hope to see this series continue for a very long time! I love to see people heal through food and the author does an excellent job of blending more serious topics in a light-hearted way (through food).

Thank you netgalley, the author and publisher for the arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.