Memories are never just visual, sometimes it is a sound or a smell that take you back. For me it would be the fragrant sweets Parma Violets. This book tells the tale of a chef and his daughter who run a secret recipe detective agency. Visitors manage to find this undercover restaurant in order to relive a meal they once ate and has stayed with them. Based on the sketchy memories of the visitor, the chef detective and his note taking daughter piece together snatches of past experience to reimagine the meal in question. With quite literally mouthwatering descriptions of food this is a gentle story of people’s lives and will appeal to those who, like me, enjoy the ‘Before The Coffee Gets Cold’ series of books.

"The Kamogawa Food Detectives" by Hisashi Kashiwai is a feast for both the mind and the soul. Seamlessly blending low suspense, drama, and culinary delights, this cosy detective novel transported me straight into the warm and welcoming Kamogawa Diner and its food detective agency. I just loved it.

Nagare and his daughter Koishi are the duo championing this unique sleuthing endeavour, digging up memories and unearthing emotions through gastronomical lanes. Serving wholesome portions of love, belonging, and nostalgia, they deliver a tantalising menu of mystery tales that resonate on a much deeper, human level. Kashiwai’s novel beautifully demonstrates how food is so much more than a mere sustenance; it becomes a vehicle for exploration into one's past, present, and possible futures.

Kashiwai's characters shine through for their authenticity, each story revealing a slice of their lives, intertwined with the powerful nostalgia that only familiar tastes can evoke. Except for one of the chapters where they explore Beef Stew, they are all everyday Japanese dishes elevated into majestic keys that unlock long-forgotten memories, desires, and enhanced self-understanding. Prepare to immerse in a gastronomical adventure, from Nabeyaki-Udon to exotic dishes like barracuda sushi and quail tsukune balls. You're in for a real Japanese treat full of Midnight Diner series vibes, but more. It's just too 'oishi'.

What sets this novel apart is the skill of Kashiwai, deftly steering clear of trivialising the depth of emotions connected to food. The storytelling maintains a refined touch, teasing out the beauty of small details while invoking life stories that plucks at the heartstrings.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives entrances not only the culinary enthusiast but every reader who relishes the complexity of human emotions, memories and their triggers. It is a dining experience unlike any other — filled with heart, soul, and an array of mouth-watering Japanese dishes. Expect to leave satiated yet yearning for more.

Very grateful to Netgalley, Pan Macmillan and Mantle for the advance reader copy. #pudseyrecommends

This is an absolutely delightful read, set in a quiet restaurant in Kyoto. The owner, Nagare, and his daughter Koishi recreate dishes for their customers, dishes that have meaning for them. The customers stories involve loss, and the recreation of the special meal, and the eating of it, enables them to move on.

The book comprises six short stories, each about a particular dish. The reader finds out about what goes into each dish, the seasoning that makes it special, even the water that is used to make the stock, as well as the customers’ stories.

This book made me hungry! The food sounded so good, and I loved the details about the ingredients.
Definitely one for fans of “Before the coffee gets cold”.
Thanks to Macmillan and Netgalley for the proof.

Read and finished in one sitting. I became so gripped in the stories, such a beautifully told story. I read a lot of translated books especially Japanese literature but I’ve recently fallen in love with Japanese books that incorporate food in some way especially after reading Sweet Bean Paste. I adored how this book told so many stories and helped people through the recreation of recipes. It was a wonderful, wholesome book that made me feel so cosy whilst reading, it was like a warm hug.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

When I came across The Kamogawa Food Detectives on NetGalley and saw that it was described as a foodie version of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, I knew I wanted to read it immediately. Need I mention again how much I am loving translated Japanese fiction?

This book is set at the Kamogawa Diner, a curious and unassuming, difficult-to-find restaurant in Kyoto, run by a detective restauranteur and his daughter. The diner treats its customers to extravagant, unforgettable meals but, also, the duo advertise their services as ‘food detectives’, teaming up to track down dishes as requested by diners. This concept sung to me as I’m the daughter of immigrant restauranteurs, and my whole life arguably revolves around food!

Through a fortnight of investigations, the father-daughter duo can recreate a dish from their customers’ pasts. This book takes us through four stories and dishes. I’m not sure if I was simply expecting more from this novel, but it didn’t completely hit the spot for me. While the concept is utterly magical, the execution felt a little shy and awkward. There’s an obvious feeling of nostalgia and emotion, but it doesn’t fully connect (for me). What I did love was, of course, the concept, but also the beautiful descriptions of Kyoto and of the food. Perhaps what this one needs is a little more time in each character’s story. I just love the sentimental elements.

And, for those of you willing to compare it to Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this one is less repetitive in its openings!

The Kamogawa Food Detectives publishes on 5 October 2023.

Definitely a 5 star for me. It was such a heartwarming experience to read this book. Although it made me want to visit Japan even more.

Nagare and Koishi run a business that doubles as a restaurant and private investigation agency that specialises into finding a particular dish from the asking person's past. First time customers receive the “dish of the day”, and even that particular dish seems to fit perfectly the receiver.
Food is described not only as a way of sustainment for one’s body, but also for their soul. The author describes each dish and each ingredient with such passion and detail, that it made me taste it in my mouth even though I don’t even know what it looks like.
The only small complaint I have – as I’m Italian – was the recipe for the “Napolitan noodles”; I wish it never existed, but I’m sure Japanese complain about “their” food we serve over here.

I think it has the vibes of “Before The Coffee Gets Cold”, but I found it even better.
It's an immersive reading not only into Japanese culinary culture, but also into their believes and way of living.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan for a review copy of this book via NetGalley.

Food is about taste, about flavour of course but also about aromas and textures—not just something to savour but an entire experience—it’s not just what one ate but where, in what circumstances and with whom that creates the full experience stored as a memory in our minds (though we little realise the whole). We all have some such in ours, a particular dish tasting a particular way, but something we just can’t quite capture the ‘feel’ of however much we try to recreate it.

In that sense the heartwarming The Kamogawa Food Detectives, originally published as Kamogawashukondo in 2013 by Shogukan and in this translation by Jesse Kirkwood by Pan Macmillan in 2023 is all about time travel, but not in the sense of actually travelling back like one did perhaps in the book I found myself comparing it with Before the Coffee Gets Cold (a recent read for me) but in the sense of a place which is able to recreate those moments, those memories—the smells and flavours but also the experiences which are locked away in memory, and linger on but which one is not able to capture again.

Kamogawa Diner is a small little place in a non-descript building in Kyoto, which few really know about. It seems to have few customers, though there are (like in the Funiculi Funicula café of Before the Coffee) its regulars. It advertises as we learn a ‘detective’ agency, but again though a one-line almost undecipherable advertisement in the Gourmet Monthly magazine, attracting only a few clients that are able to make sense of it and have the tenacity to actually track it down. And that is just how the owners would have it, for they want only a few customers, request them to refrain from reviewing it on the internet, and don’t even have a signboard displayed in front. The café is run by Nagare Komogawa, a retired policeman and his daughter Koishi. Nagare does the ‘detecting’ and much of the cooking (aided by Koishi) but it is Koishi who interviews clients for the detective agency, able to perhaps ask the right questions and break it down for her father to work out (interesting considering he was the policeman).

In this book we have six different stories, each arranged in two chapters, one where the client comes to the diner/agency with their story and case and the second when they return (usually in two weeks’ time as that’s how long it takes to fulfil their request) to sample the dish as we alongside learn how Nagare actually recreated the feeling and experience which the client was actually looking for. The first couple of clients are known to the Komogawas, one Nagare’s former colleague in the police and the other a friend of a regular customer, but others are new. All though have caught on to the advert and followed up from there. Most of their stories are of loss in some form or other—a mother who died when young, a grandfather now suffering dementia, a first proposal which elicited too strong a reaction or an estrangement due to social circumstances. Each are left with the memory of a dish cooked by the lost wife or husband, sampled on a trip with granddad or eaten in a restaurant. As Nagare recreates their dishes we see soon enough that it is naturally about what goes into the dish—not just ingredients but the right ingredients sourced from those very same places, but also the experience itself—how it was eaten, where, even down to the things that one might have been doing at the time. For some clients it returns what was lost, enabling them to relive it and finally move on, but for others it also leads to dispelling some myths or revealing some truths they were unable to see before.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives was a lovely little book, quick, charming and touching, about food certainly but also about life, loss and memories, relationships and in its own sense time travel. On can’t help comparing it with Before the Coffee Gets Cold and it has those similarities (in structure, in moments from the past that people want to relive) but it is also very much its own story.

Like I did in that review, I will also here include what I should start to call the ‘cat report’. This book too as is apparent has the customary cat on the cover. And I am happy to report that there is in fact a cat in it. This one’s called Drowsy and is likely an alley cat who finds his way into the diner even though Nagare disapproves (since cats shouldn’t be where food is being cooked). He nonetheless comes in and receives plenty of love from Koishi and some of the clients as well. But rest assured his presence is mostly decorative (and just by being a purry cat, comforting too), but no more than that, so he fares just fine.

Being a story of food detectives, there is plenty, and I do mean plenty of food, Each first time client to the diner (even if they come in search of the detective agency, they do end up starting by eating a meal) is served only a set meal, and each of these is elaborately described, from the variety of rice and soup to the various dishes—fish, pickled and sautéed veg, tofu and much else, and often ending with fruit, or Mizugashi, which gets distorted in its Western interpretation as dessert (probably no point mentioning that this does make one hungry). I love how in these meals or even the dishes Nagare recreates, one gets a sense of the care that is taken over dishes, each ingredient down to the water used being sourced from specific places to create that special taste or flavour, the reflections of seasons (which change as the stories proceed) in the food and much else. When it comes to the dishes clients have requested, there is this but much more since Nagare cannot recreate the experience without knowing everything of the story behind it, even beyond the sparse details the client often remembers. So the process involves a trip to the place, and ‘proper’ detective work tracing the stories and people involved so as to make the experience as close to what it was.

The stories as, I already mentioned, of most clients involve loss in different ways, mostly death but also others (estrangements, loss of memory, a relationship that never took off at all), and through making that food once again, Nagare is able to help the clients come to terms with things, understand elements of it they weren’t able to at the time, and even dispels misunderstandings for some, such that with the satisfaction of the stomach also comes a sense of relief. The stories do in that sense touch on one’s emotions, yet without going down too deep.

This was my second time reading a work translated by Jesse Kirkwood, and the book read smoothly all through. The one small thing that puzzled me at the start though was Koishi addressing her father’s old colleague by first name (no honorifics) which left me wondering whether this was the case in the original.

This is a quick little read with plenty of warmth which leave one feeling pleasant and comforted even though there is that thread of pathos in the stories themselves. A book that will also likely leave you hungry—especially for Japanese food.

The premise of the The Kamogawa Food Detectives is similar to “What You are Looking for is in the Library” and “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” so if you enjoyed those, then this is the book for you!!
It’s a heartwarming and easy read. One that contains a range of short stories involving different clients who request a specific dish to be re-created for them by Koishi and her father Nagare’ in their the restaurant of lost recipes.
It will warm the cockles of your heart 🥰

Have you ever had a dish that you just can’t get out of your head but have no clue how to recreate it? The Kamogawa food detectives are on the case!
This is a very comforting and cosy read, perfect for autumn reading. I found the concept intriguing and played out well. The only downside was that the stories became a little repetitive towards the end. However, each story has its own unique dish and a different reason for each customer wishing to taste it once more. Ultimately, a very charming read!

I’m hungry and in love. I’m glad I got to read this book while spending some down time at my parents’ with my mother’s cooking. It’s a comfort read. More of a collection of short stories than a novel. That is to say that I’m left wanting more. I’d like to get to know Koishi to understand her different reactions and relationships; I’d like to go on the detective journeys with Nagare and witness the ingredients coming together; I’d like it all to come together just as we watch the seasons changing…

Then again, this is only book one. I’ll definitely be looking for the sequels!

If you enjoyed “Before the Coffee Gets Cold”, this will be right up your street. A bit more abrupt in its briefness, but still hits the spot. Thank you Pan Macmillan for gifting me this ARC.

"The Kamogawa Food Detectives" by Hishashi Kashiwai is a heartwarming and enchanting tale that celebrates the power of food and memory. The story revolves around a unique restaurant in Kyoto run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, who possess the extraordinary ability to recreate dishes from their customers' pasts. Through their culinary detective work, they not only craft delicious meals but also unlock forgotten memories and emotions.

Kashiwai's storytelling is beautifully immersive, transporting readers to the quiet backstreets of Kyoto and allowing them to savour the exquisite flavours and sentiments of each dish. The characters are endearing, and their quests to reconnect with cherished meals from their pasts are emotionally resonant.

"The Kamogawa Food Detectives" is a delightful blend of culinary delights, nostalgia, and heartwarming moments. It reminds us of the powerful role food plays in our lives and how it can bring people together, heal old wounds, and create new connections. It's a charming and soulful read that will leave you craving both food and heartwarming stories.

This is a very sweet, calm book. The basic set-up of it is that each chapter is split into two distinct parts. Firstly, the client shares about their life and requests a specific dish be re-created for them. The father-daughter duo of the Kamogawa Detective Agency then requests two weeks to work and discusses the little information given to them. Part two covers the secondary appointment, wherein the client returns and is wowed by the long-lost dish from their past, pets the resident cat, and leaves with a new perspective on their life.

Essentially, this is a series of short stories that all very closely follow the same formula, which can become slightly repetitive or boring, but each individual story has its own charm and none of them seem weaker than any other.

A bit of an oddity but quite entertaining.

This book is a series of challenges to recreate particular food dishes in a restaurant in Kyoto. Each investigation is based on the life story of the person requesting help and it is this that drives the plot. The description of the dishes and food is fascinating, especially as I didn’t recognise most of the ingredients. It all sounds delicious. It’s a short book, quite enjoyable and certainly different. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

'You're still young, aren't you? All you care about is eating the tastiest food you can. Get to my age and you'll realize that nostalgia can be just as vital an ingredient'

A heartwarming, mouth watering cosy read, which would be a perfect winter read with a hot drink (and some Japanese food which I was craving throughout reading). Whilst the writing itself was pretty simplistic (I'm not sure whether this is from the original writing or translation), the short novel highlights the power of food and nostalgia through an array of characters, each, for their own personal reasons, searching for a dish from their past. I thought the translator also did a pretty good job, especially translating certain idioms and phrases.

Thanks NetGalley for the eARC

Full review at: bethanys-bookshelf.blogspot.com

What meal takes you back? For me, it’s the grilled spam and mushrooms my dad used to make me for breakfast, the soup my grandparents made every weekend after a roast dinner, and the Chinese takeaway my partner and I used to get all the time when we started dating. Those warm, fond nostalgic memories and more came to life in this beautifully sweeping story.

We are immediately thrown into a vivid, richly descriptive world in a quiet street hidden in a bustling city - a moment of calm and reflection . Everything from the people, the places and of course the food was so clear i could almost taste it, making a truly absorbing story that I didn’t want to end.

The storytelling was careful, patient but playful — it moved at a leisurely but never slow pace and a repetitive pattern that felt familiar instead of boring. It all kept the relaxing, cosy vibe of the book going and by the end of the first chapter I was entirely immersed in the quiet but powerful lull of the narrative.

Each meal, each chapter captured a different feeling so evocatively; love, loss, longing — and we feel them all with the people coming to the Kamogawa Diner searching for not only a long-lost meal but the memories they rekindle. It felt like a collection of short stories, a collection of memories that all come together in one place to be remembered, every customer bringing their own history and feelings into the Diner and leaving a little something behind when the next customer enters.

Beautifully nostalgic, cosy, and delicious — this book is an absolute delight.

received an ARC of this book via Netgalley and am grateful for the opportunity. I am drawn to Japanese literature which often has an unusual or quirky narrative. I have not read anything by this author before.

The book has an interesting concept. Anyone can turn up at the Kamogawa retaurant in search of a food dish that they remember but have been unable to replicate. This is where the detection comes in as the owner and chef Nagare researches the dish and creates. in most cases an exact copy only a couple of weeks later. Despite the interesting nature of the concept I think the author fails to carry it off in any real manner. The writing is very lightweight and in places repetitive, every culinary quest is achieved and narrated in very similar ways. It is a bit like confetti - soon to be blown away frommy memory.

I hesitate to rate it as 1 star maybe 1.5 but generoisty prevails I will call it 2 stars

The premise of this book is lovely - a father and daughter run a restaurant in Japan where customers can come and ask them it help recreate a particularly memorable meal from a special time in their life.

The relationship between the two is lovely, and their interactions with the customer is so heartwarming. There’s so much mention of food in this book that I defy anyone to not feel hungry reading it, but occasionally I struggled due to my lack of knowledge of Japanese food (though you will learn lots from reading this book).

Unfortunately for me I found the translation a little clunky so it didn’t quite flow as much as I’d have liked, but it was still enjoyable and definitely one for fans of this type of book. It’s ultimately uplifting and great way to learn more about Japanese cuisine,

A really sweet and wholesome story - an ex policeman cum chef running a restaurant alongside a barely advertised ‘detective agency’ which finds and recreates dishes from people’s past, down to the ingredient origins and more. Reminiscent of ‘Before the coffee gets cold’

This was a lovely read which I really enjoyed.

The plot is simple (in a good way, meaning I could just dip in and out of it when I felt like it) and it focussing on a father-daughter duo makes a nice change from what I usually read.

The comparisons to before the coffee gets cold are definitely accurate and I think readers who enjoyed it would also enjoy this.

It also made me hungry, I’d definitely like to try some of the food that they mentioned

an absolute comfort read!! the story follows a father and daughter duo in their restaurant as they recreate customers meals from their past. as someone who is a fellow foodie and someone who’s favourite food memories are attached to friends and families i loved this book. the way the cooking is described is mouth-watering and i love the emotive language is communicated alongside the love for food!