This was a really cute entry into the Witch Hat Atelier universe. I am a fan of the original series, but this book seems to be a nice jumping on point for readers that are new to the world. The inclusion of the actual recipes was a nice touch and the art was, as always, quite lovely.

Welcome to a whimsical world where characters from the Manga Witch Hat Atelier allow magic and cooking to intertwine seamlessly. This enchanting tale follows the delightful adventures of two skilled magicians who craft delectable recipes in their day-to-day lives. Here we Olly and Qifrey, a pair of charismatic magicians whose spells into the culinary realm.

Each chapter of this captivating narrative invites you into their enchanting escapades, offering an immersive experience like no other. But what makes this journey truly unique is the inclusion of a delightful surprise at the end of every chapter—a carefully crafted recipe. These recipes, born from the very pages of their magical adventures, allow you, the reader, to step into the shoes of these extraordinary magicians and recreate the flavorsome dishes right in your own kitchen.

These culinary creations aren't just about taste; they're a gateway to fully immerse yourself in the story and characters. Feel the warmth of the magical hearth, breathe in the aroma of enchanting spices, and savor the flavors that transcend mere recipes—they're a portal to the fantastical world within these pages.

Rating: 4
Thank you Kodansha for providing an e-copy through NetGalley.

Synopsis & What I Liked:
Witch Hat Atelier: Kitchen follows the witches Qifrey and Olruggio as they end up in some hungry situations, and the only solution is cooking a wonderful meal for themselves, and, more importantly, for others. Watch as the two men cook extravagant food, made with otherworldly ingredients, with easy-to-follow explanations of each steps and detailed illustrations in the Witch Hat Atelier style. Each chapter highlights a specific dish, and a full recipe accompanies the end of chapter, with ingredient lists and full instructions. The earthly version of all the dishes (with real ingredients that we can use) are listed at the end of the book, so readers can cook the meal at home. The way cooking works in the world is a mix of magic and spell-casting, but also science, making a unique feel to a fantasy manga. The themes of sharing with others, cooking as a means of bringing everyone together, providing for others, and caring for one another are a sweet touch and provide important messages of why people cook and love cooking in the first place. Overall, Witch Hat Atelier: Kitchen is a sweet, festive, and magical storytelling cookbook that will make readers both hungry and warm.

What I Didn’t Like: Nothing

Who Would I Recommend this to: Kids and teens who like the Witch Hat Atelier series and want to see more of the characters, and kids who like reading about food, family, and caring for others, with not a lot of story. These are more slice-of-life chapters that tell a small story and recipe each chapter, with no overarching plot.

Review Date: December 19, 2023

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen was a very enjoyable book to read. I also enjoyed how you didn't have to read the sister series Witch Hat Atelier to understand this one. It defiantly would've helped but not necessary.
I enjoyed how although it was about cooking there was still a story to it.

You can also make some of the recipes yourself which I LOVED. I think best manga/books are the ones that include the recipes so you can keep enjoying the book even after you've finished it.

This is a guaranteed recommendation to my cooking and manga loving friends.

2/5


Two stars for the drawingas which are amazing but the story really wasn't for me.
I wanted to try it anyway because the main series has a very big acclamation, but an entire volume dedicated only to cooking and recipes it's a big nono per me.

I simply don't like cooking in any way possible, so for me this was a super heavy read.
I don't know, I expected something different with more actual story in it.
My bad.

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen is one of the most delightful spin offs to a series that I’ve ever read. This offers a really nice look into Qifrey and Olruggio’s relationship in more peaceful times through cooking, and each chapter has a delicious recipe or two at the end! I adore the concept of food as a form of care and affection, and this manga really makes you feel warm and happy about it. As always, the art is delightful and the pacing is very nice, I’ll definitely be continuing! I highly recommend this if you’re a fan of the original series.

Wow this is absolutely amazing. And I love the added recipes. I can truly make myself the food along with the characters! Such a fun and cute story.

What a cute manga!

The beautiful illustrations along with the easy to follow along story make for a perfect "quiet" read for anyone looking to detach from the daily life to life (or high stakes book to book )stress and take a breather into this short comforting read.

The combination of kitchen creations with magic is such a niche yet superb genre that will never fail to bring immerse comfort and cozyness!

I love cooking mangas and that remains true when reading Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen. The art is great and I love that each recipe in the book has a story to go with it.

This manga is a cozy cookbook that I would recommend to people who like cooking or fans of:
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma
Yumeiro Patissiere

I did not know that this was a spin off from Witch Hat Atelier, and now I want to read that too :)

Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the opportunity to read this ARC !

I loved Witch Hat Atelier, so this kitchen version seemed interesting! I'm not a fan of cooking manga though, since they seem to lack a plot and here the same happens. Sadly do. The manga is about the teachers Qifrey and Olruggio making food for the kids and trying new recipes. The fun part is that you can actually make the foods with the recipes, though you have to change the weird ingredients with the instructions at the back. This is great, although it would be easier if you didn't need to check the real ingredients from the back and instead have them already in the recipes. The problem is that there's literally no plot and it's just cooking and explaining the cooking which makes this slightly boring and repetitive.

The art looks great and the foods look delicious, which is nice. Perhaps this manga is for the hardcore fans or those that like to test out the foods from the series. For others this cannot really offer anything, since the series just lacks a story. It depends on the reader if this is something they look for in a manga or not.

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen is a cute combination of short, cozy fantasy cooking comics and cookbook. Each recipe ties to the comic that proceeds it. While I haven’t tried any of the recipes, the comics sure make them look tasty!

I am loving the trend of mangas and graphic novels having their spin off cookbooks. Makes for a fun read! I'm not sure how well they will do as a library book, as I think generally they would be great gifts. But I will purchase for my library and see how it goes.

This was such a cute collection! I loved seeing my favorite characters in a series of softer, cute, domestic vignettes. Qifrey and Olly especially were adorable.

Very soft and light hearted spin off of Witch Hat Atelier that's all about food and togetherness. If you love the characters and love the world, then this will probably just be good vibes all the way for you. As always the art is unique and wonderful. This one is very slowly paced and there's no drama.

Cute and quick read. Loved the competition and the culinary masterpieces made. Would definitely read more from this series.

12/01/2023 || Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen Vol. 1 by Kamome Shirahama, Hiromi Sato || #WitchHatAtelierKitchenVolume1 #NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley, Kamome Shirahama, Hiromi Sato, and Kodansha Comics for making this e-ARC available!
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author and myself.

All of my thoughts are my own~

5 Stars

If y’all like slice of life cozy magical manga, this cooking book is the ultimate “story within a share recipe post” but made cute !
Each chapter is a new recipe and the recipe is located at the end of the chapter. Substitutions for their world ingredients for our world ingredients found in the very back which makes it easy to actually try out cooking their recipes!

I've never read the main series, but this cookbook manga makes it easy for anyone new or well read of the magical world of Witch Hat Atelier to enter and enjoy the characters and scenery.
While not much is explored outside the main two male Witches, Qifrey (white hair, glasses) and Olruggio aka Olly (dark hair, perpetually sleepy) and their 4 apprentices and them eating/exploring foods, the illustrations and cooking prep was very detailed and informative.

Grab some food, quickly! All chapters are cooking recipes that describe how to mix and boil the right ingredients to get delicious meals. Mouth-watering drawings will urge you to go to your own kitchen and try the recipes for yourself. All is wrapped up in nice short stories.

I personally really love the Witch Hat Atelier series, so getting to read this spin-off where we get to see the process and recipes of the different dishes that Qifrey and Olruggio dredge up in the kitchen was a treat! I may have even jotted down a few of the recipes for myself (there are great substitutions suggestions at the back of the book if you can't get your hands on certain magical ingredients) 😉 Super cute, quick read that I will definitely be adding a physical of to my collection. Already having loved the universe and characters, this felt like a little peek behind the curtain into their every day lives. Which I will say most manga readers love to see from their favorite series (especially me). Not everyone loves slice of life, but if you are a fan of the Witch Hat Atelier manga, you're likely going to love this like I did! Now I'm signing off to make some Honeytree-Scented Pudding Cups! Wish me luck...

A big thank you to Kodansha and NetGalley for a free e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

this was super cute! i already love the universe of witch hat atelier, though i haven’t yet caught up since reading volume 8, and this one reminded me to get back into it! i love each of the characters so much, qifrey & olruggio are so cute, and i loved a kind of slice of life story in their daily lives, seeing the little ways in which they & the girls cared for each other. the art was as beautiful as always, but the text felt a bit off? maybe it’s because i read a fan translation for the main manga series but idk. the food looked very yummy, i might try some of the recipes later, especially the glowrose tart bouquet!

thank you to the publisher kodansha comics & netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen is a spin-off series of Witch Hat Atelier. It's not necessary to read the original series to understand this manga, I believe you can still enjoy this as a comfy fantasy cooking manga on its own. However, this manga doesn't really give context to who the characters are (beyond the magic teacher-student-"watcher" roles) or go into the beautiful worldbuilding and magic system that Witch Hat Atelier has. Regardless, the characters' personalities come through really well and each of the students are easy to tell apart even without the context of what drives them in the main series. The character writing is so good--you /know/ what kind of girl Richeh is even if she is more of a support character in the spin-off. Funnily enough, I think the focus on Quifrey and Olruggio's relationship actually deepens what's shown in the original series lol.

As a spin-off series that involve the same main characters, it should be understood that nothing with lasting consequences can happen here otherwise it would have to effect the main source material or create a sense of dissonance in the spin-off. So any comments about how "nothing happens" or it doesn't "have the same depth as the original series" are misunderstanding the point of the spin-off. This isn't My Hero Academia: Vigilantes where they can still tackle high stakes because it centers original characters that are completely separate from the source material. This series is for the people who read Witch Hat Atelier and wanted to see more of the characters in their setting.

As a cooking manga, I think it's fun. Most cooking manga--even the extremely good ones--are going to be formulaic and follow "step 1: present a problem, step 2: solve it with food" every chapter. I still love cooking manga as a genre, so I'm not going to knock off a star for something that's just a common form of storytelling in the genre. The dishes are all replicable with full recipes at the end of each chapter, which I think is really neat. I personally think they could've pushed the ingredients more beyond like "fantasy carrots", but I understand that goes against the desire to make dishes that the readers could actually make.

The series is a delight and it's gorgeous to look at. Sato-sensei did a good job in replicating the same storybook feel in the art that Shirahama-sensei is praised for. It's evident that there's a lot of respect and love for Witch Hat Atelier, and really what more can you ask for in a spin-off.