Library Loans - Set in Japan

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The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on October 8, 2024
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction

Goodreads

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is the second book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Kamogawa Food Detectives series, for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

We all hold lost recipes in our hearts. A very special restaurant in Kyoto helps recreate them...

Chef Nagare and his daughter Koishi serve their customers more than delicious food at their Kamogawa Diner down a quiet street in Kyoto. They can help recreate meals from their customers’ most treasured memories. Through ingenious investigations, these “food detectives” untangle flavors and pore through old shopping lists to remake unique dishes from the past.

From the swimmer who misses his father’s lunchbox to the model who longs for fried rice from her childhood, each customer leaves the diner forever changed—though not always in the ways they expect…

A beloved bestseller in Japan, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is a tender and healing novel that celebrates the power of community and delicious food.

The Kamogawas continue to help people find lost recipes in this charming return to the Kamogawa Diner and Detective Agency. As in the previous installment, the cases have the same format - we meet the person looking for a particular dish, they are treated to a fixed menu, they are interviewed by Koishi, and when they return two weeks later, Nagare has found their lost recipe and provides a full explanation.

“Kamogawa Diner—Kamogawa Detective Agency—We Find Your Food."

I love the exploration of the role food plays in our lives, how it can be such a big part of important memories. There were a wide variety of reasons why each person sought their dish, some really touched my heart, but all were meaningful in some way.

I truly feel these books are love letters to food. Each case spends quite a bit of time immersing the reader in rich and vivid descriptions of each dish Nagare prepares. I found myself yearning for a taste while my mouth watered. I also discovered a lot of new foods that I would love to sample.

But the heart of this story was the link between the food and something the person needed to work through or a big decision they needed to make which I think was beautifully done. Cozy, charming, and sweet, I was glad to return to this world and hope there are more missing recipes to discover.

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The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
Published by Ballantine Books on August 20, 2024
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction

Goodreads

Translated from the Japanese bestseller, this charming and magical novel, inspired by the myth of cats returning favors to those who care for them, reminds us that it’s never too late to follow our stars.

In Japan cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they’ll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto moon. This particular coffee shop is like no other. It has no fixed location, no fixed hours, and seemingly appears at random to adrift young people at crucial junctions in their lives.

It’s also run by talking cats.

While customers at the Full Moon Coffee Shop partake in cakes, coffees, and teas, the cats also consult them on their star charts, offer cryptic wisdom, and let them know where their lives have veered off course—because every person who visits the shop has been feeling more than a little lost. And for a down-on-her-luck screenwriter, a romantically stuck movie director, a hopeful hairstylist, and a technologically challenged website designer, the feline guides will set them back on their fated paths. After all, there is a reason the shop appeared to each of them…

I have really been vibing with the work of Japanese authors lately. I am thrilled that we are seeing so many translated books released in the US because they have been a source of utter delight for me.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop was a charming story about people who were at a point in their lives where big choices were necessary. Fate led them to the coffee shop where a staff of cats helped them find the answers they sought with help from the stars. 

This is the second book I have read this year that incorporates astrology. Once again, I was fascinated by all the star charts and the way the houses and planets play out in ones life. This was woven into this story really well, too, illuminating the solutions for each character as they worked their way through their personal issues.

What can I say, the promise of talking cats was too hard for me to resist, but that wasn't even my favorite part of the story. It was the interconnectedness between the characters that emerged. It's subtle, and at first, seemed random, but Mochizuki had a fantastic way to tie them all together and explain why the shop appeared to them.

Overall: A wonderful tale told with a plethora of warmth and charm.

Any food memories?
Let us know in the comments!