The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

Hanako Footman performs this feel-good novel about Chef Negare and his daughter, Kioshi, who run the Kamogawa Diner in Kyoto. Together, they are the Kamogawa Food Detectives, who track down lost recipes from their clients' pasts. In each chapter, they handle a new case in which a client comes to them looking for a unique dish made with exact ingredients. Footman's narration captures the cozy atmosphere and heartwarming tone of the novel as the father-daughter duo go to great lengths to re-create the lost dishes. Footman excels at performing the descriptions of the delicious food featured in the novel as she highlights every mouthwatering morsel, including dishes like ramen, nori ben, and ten don. K.D.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

Starred review from March 1, 2025

Kashiwai's heartwarming sequel to The Kamogawa Food Detectives entices listeners with exceptional-sounding Japanese food while reminding them that hope and healing are always on the menu. Each chapter features a different person in need. The customers occasionally know why they're seeking a lost flavor--to remember or honor someone long gone, for instance--but other times, it's wise chef Nagare who ascertains their true need. He shares his insights with his daughter Koishi, who manages the detective side of their business. Though the food detectives' process is only lightly explained in this volume, listeners can still jump into this series entry without having read the previous book. Hanako Footman returns as narrator, once again perfectly allowing Koishi to be the face of the agency. If there's an overarching plot throughout the novels, it's the subtle changes in Nagare and Koishi's relationship, which Footman's warmth and good humor subtly highlight. More centered are the ever-changing clients, whom she imbues with quiet yet urgent needs that the detectives must ascertain and assuage. VERDICT Sure to have listeners fervently hope every volume of Kashiwai's long-running series receives an English translation.--Matthew Galloway

Copyright 2025 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Down a backstreet in a quiet area of Kyoto, a cat named Drowsy lounges outside a nondescript building. Inside that building is the Kamogawa Diner, where patrons are not just able to enjoy a superbly presented bento box of local culinary delights but are also able to call on the food-related detective skills of the father-daughter duo, Nagare and Koishi Kamogawa. This wonderful novel is written in six parts, each following the journey of a client wanting Nagare to recreate a dish from their past. There is an obvious nostalgic element reminiscent of Proust’s madeleines but this book – like a Japanese garden – is both simpler and more complex than that. Each section follows a similar pattern: a patron is directed to the hard-to-find diner where Nagare surprises them with a delectable bento box before Koishi asks for details of the dish the client wishes to recreate. There is an emotional attachment to each dish that relocates the client at a critical juncture in their past. Keiko Fujikawa needs Nagare to recreate the Ten-Don (tempura rice dish) that she had when her career trajectory looked stratospheric, to remind her that she wasn’t the failure she imagined herself to be. Katsuji Onodera wants to taste the ramen he had as a student to rediscover his artistic past. Kashiwai intricately details every Kamogawa bento box, focusing on locally sourced Kyoto produce. The variety delivered in each instance is astounding. This book is so emotionally uplifting and tantalisingly mouth-watering, that the only disappointment is that the Kamogawa Diner doesn’t exist. Reviewed by Bob Moore   Read a book review of The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai   ABOUT THE AUTHOR Hisashi Kashiwai was born in 1952 and was raised in Kyoto. He graduated from Osaka Dental University. After graduating, he returned to Kyoto and worked as a dentist. He has written extensively about his native city and has collaborated in TV programs and magazines.