A sweet collection of short stories that leaves you both nostalgic and hungry. I enjoyed the majority of the short stories, although some felt a bit too similar (to the first book in the series as well) towards the end. I liked the investigative aspect of it and the detailed descriptions of Japanese food made the book even more memorable.

The Restaurant Of Lost Recipes is the second book in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series by Japanese dentist and author, Hisashi Kashiwai. It is translated from Japanese by award-winning translator, Jesse Kirkwood. Six new clients visit Kyoto’s Kamogawa Diner to request the help of the food detectives.

The format of each story follows the same lines: from a one line ad in Gourmet Monthly (“Kamagawa Diner and Detective Agency: We Find Your Food”) the client searches out the diner, a little surprised at how unimpressive it looks; former police detective, Nagare Kamogawa suggests he serve them a meal while they’re there, something that’s always incredibly delicious; his daughter Koishi , who is in charge of the food detective agency, takes down the information about the recipe they are after, and the story behind it.

The client returns after two weeks to find that Nagare has got it exactly right, and he explains how he tracked it down; the client usually also learns something interesting, surprising and/or moving about the original cook and/or the intended recipient, and perhaps about themselves as well; the client is invited to pay into an account what they feel their service and meals deserve.

Olympic swimmer Kyosuko Kitano wants the Nori Ben his father used to make for him after his parents split up. His father’s gambling addiction broke up the family, and Kyosuko hasn’t seen him for five years. Koishi wonders if her father will be disappointed by such a simple request, but Nagare tells her “The simplest dishes are always the hardest to get right.” The result, and the story behind it, has Kyosuko revising his choice of stroke for his swim, and considering making contact with his father.

At almost forty, and recently widowed, food writer Kana Takeda has never been to Kyoto but wants to reproduce a dish for her six-year-old son, Yusuke, something he lovingly described in his nursery school album, but she has never made. She suspects it was made by his grandfather, but doesn’t see her parents, who operate the Takeda Diner in Hirosaki. All is information that helps Nagare hunt down the recipe and ingredients. Her purpose seems a little underhand, but she gets a surprise, and learns a lesson: “Kids are happy eating anything, as long as they can tell it was made with love.”

Grieving parents Yoshie and Masayuki Sakamoto have come from their traditional Fushimi confectionery shop, Kogando, to find a Christmas Cake that the old lady at Cent Nuits cake shop brought to their son, Kakeru’s wake. Will it bring them closure? Will it help them to decide to whom they will pass on the 128-year-old confectionery tradition? Nagare doesn’t have a lot to go on, but still succeeds, and brings back a wonderful surprise as well. His advice about succession is sage: “What counts is passing on your art, in its every detail, to whoever picks up the baton.”

Top model, Hatsuko Shirusaki knows Koishi from school, but now she’s made a special trip to the Kamogawa Diner: she wants to be able to cook the fried rice her mother used to make for her new fiancé, the best way for him to know the real Hatsuko and understand her humble beginnings. But her mum died when she was ten. Nagare tells her “The tricky ones are always the most rewarding.”


Now the MD of a printing company, Katsuji Onodera was once a student in Kyoto where he spent every afternoon rehearsing with his drama club under a bridge. He believes that if he could once again taste the ramen from the long-gone yatai food stall nearby, he could decide how he feels about his son following an acting career instead of joining his company. Nagare understands: “You appreciate things differently when you’re older, don’t you? Food is never just about flavour. It’s something we feel – and in different ways, depending on where we are in life.”


When her first song was a hit, Keiko Fujikama’s manager took her for a meal at Tenfusa in Asakusa, and the ten-don she ate will always be the taste of success, a success she never repeated. Thirty years on, she wants to taste it just once more before she goes home to her ageing parents in Ishinomaki. When Nagare serves her exactly what she remembers, then a slight variation, he tells her “Nostalgia’s all well and good, but we shouldn’t be afraid to try something new.”


In each story, Drowsy the cat also makes an appearance, and Nagare and Koishi pay respect to Kikuko, Nagare’s late wife. Usually mention is made of their one-line ad in Gourmet Monthly, and sometimes, of the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Akane Daidoji. And even if the reader hasn’t a clue what all the foods are, the gorgeous descriptions of each dish are truly mouth-watering. Moving and wise, this is feel-good fiction at its best.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Mantle

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC for this book. I absolutely love the first book in this series and was super excited to be able to read its sequel.

However, despite my excitement, I couldn’t read it before it got published and then I went and bought its physical copy and now I have finished it in three sittings.

The sequence of events in these stories tend to get repetitive and pretty straight-forward. I mean I would love to read a detailed backstory of Nagare and Koishi. We get glimpses but it will be amazing to know about them.

The backstories of the customers in this sequel were truly heart-touching. I love how it is always explained in detail that why the person wants to eat a specific thing and why at that particular time. And despite the fact that it is so cool when they always get the taste just right and according to the wishes of the customers, I think it would be interesting to see when the meal is so complicated or their are just no proper clues or leads and they are not able to remake the thing. What will happen then?

Some of them surely made me tear up. Also, it is always a better idea to keep some snacks with you while reading this book because the elaborate meals are bound to make you hungry.

Lastly, these books are perfect for reading when you are not up-to intense reads or books that want way too much concentration. Reading these feels like a cool breeze while making you experience the warmth and coziness.

When I read this I didn't realise it was part of a series which is maybe why I was disappointed with the ending which seemed so abrupt! I loved the stories and the book however, really beautiful and gentle writing which was both moving and captivating. I will now read the first and wait for the next instalment!

At the Kamogawa restaurant the food is great but the service offered alongside this is unusual. Clients ask the owners to find recipes for food they remember from their past. Often this has huge sentimental meaning and brings back memories both happy and sad.
I hadn't read the first book in the series so came to this cold. It's a very short book, almost like an anthology as there is little plot besides the stories of the food. What I did love was the way that the tales are all about teh people and their relationships. It's a lovely book to while away a cold afternoon.

I really enjoyed this book. It is similar to the first one. The stories it tells are interesting, however it is a bit lost in the sea of Japanese cosy coffee house books at the moment.

This is such a simple yet sweet book and just what I needed to read right now. This is the second in the series but I don't think it would matter if it was read first.
Each chapter is about a person tracking down a meal from their past and their back story.
I've noticed that there are a lot more in the series that I'm hoping will be translated

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai
Tucked away down a Kyoto backstreet lies the extraordinary Kamogawa Diner. Running this unique establishment are a father-daughter duo who serve more than just mouth-watering feasts.
The pair have reinvented themselves as 'food detectives, offering a service that goes beyond traditional dining.
Tines the the inmoles oring euset cre bino ved
connection to cherished moments from the past.
Among those who seek an appointment is a one-hit wonder pop star, finally ready to leave Tokyo and give up on her singing career. She wants to try the tempura that she once ate to celebrate her only successful record.
Another diner is a budding Olympic swimmer, who desires the bento lunch box that his estranged father used to make him.
The Kamogawa Diner doesn't just serve meals - it revives lost recipes and rekindles forgotten memories. It's a doorway to the past through the miracle of delicious food.
I absolutely loved this follow up to The Kamogawa Food Detectives that I read last year, in fact I think I liked it even more! I find the stories very emotional, people wanting to recreate a beloved or nostalgic recipe from those in their lives that are no longer with them or have passed away.
If you enjoy the Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series then I think you'll love these too.

This is such a cosy bittersweet Japanese book sequel to The Kamogawa Food Detectives.
Clients come to Kamogawa diner to seek a dish in their precious memory. The daughter and her father who run the diner investigate the dish and recreate it for them.

This is the second book of this series. The food mentioned in this book is mouthwatering and made me crave to eat Japanese food. What I like about this book is it introduces local ingredients and dishes. Japanese have a great food culture and in various districts, there are some famous local foods. It made me want to travel to those places to try their local dish.

This book felt like a gentle breeze. A perfect cosy read.

'Food is never just about flavour. It's something we feel - and in different ways, depending on where we are in life.'

Originally published in 2014, this second instalment in the Kamogawa Food Detective series follows the familiar and welcoming path of the first. 6 people seek out the enigmatic Kamogawa diner, a place which offers itself as a food detective agency. Each of them are looking for some sort of closure, or for some sense of understanding. A future Olympic swimmer who has lost contact with his father; a food critic whose son once enjoyed a hamburger; parents who lost a son a year ago; and more. All of them come to tell their stories to daughter Koishi, and then it is up to chef Nagare to track the original recipes down and recreate that special food or taste.

The popularity of this kind of Japanese novel has gained huge momentum in recent years. 'Iyashikei' (literally healing, or healing type) fiction follows a formula, and it is precisely this that lends itself to the comfort and solace that these books provide. There isn't huge character development, the 'detective' work happens off-page, the story of widowed Nagare and his daughter takes very small steps forward. All of this isn't the point. The book is a balm, a calming escape from the world we live in. And thank goodness for that.

4.5 stars, and I can't wait for the next in the series.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

A wonderful, cosy addition to the recent wave of Japanese translated books. Despite not reading the previous book, the concept of the food detectives is innovative, with very evocative descriptions of the food, endearing characters and a gentle pace that somehow ticks along. I wasn't prepared for the almost short story style, but the repetition of structure (client arriving, their first meal, the interview, the return two weeks later), alongside the repeated cat not allowed in restaurant and the references to the mother and altar, this felt familiar by the end and reassuring, even as it gently deals with big human themes like closure, regret and society. Thoroughly enjoyed this one and can imagine the translation is fairly true to the original book's feeling.

I had thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series, The Kamogawa Food Detectives, so was delighted to find this one just as wonderful. Set in a fictional cafe in Japan, run by Nagare and his daughter Koishi, this unusual place helps people to recreate well loved or lost recipes from their past. Sweet, gentle and easy to read; I hope there will be more in the series.

I received a review copy of this book from Pan Macmillan via NetGalley for which my thanks.

Somewhere in the lanes of Kyoto, near the Kamo river, in a nondescript building and with no signage, confusing to locate but by the most determined customer (though not as much so as the Clinic for the Soul in We’ll Prescribe You a Cat) is the Kamogawa Diner. Run by Nagare Kamogawa and his daughter Koishi, this is of course a diner serving scrumptious food, but more than that one that also offers a detective service—recreating recipes or more specifically food memories that clients only have the briefest recollections of, vague ideas of taste, colour or even an ingredient but all the same tremendously special because of the people or stories attached to them.

The second of this series of ‘feel-good’ Japanese fiction (which is already into its 11th volume) translated into English by Jesse Kirkwood, this, like its predecessor and most other series of this kind, is episodic, comprised of six small sections of two chapters, each telling the story of one client and the outcome of Nagare and Koishi’s search—mostly the former since Koishi is merely in charge of interviewing clients while it is Nagare (formerly a policeman but now a chef) who traces down and recreates the recipes.

In the six stories in this collection, we see clients in search of nori ben (seaweed and rice), hamburger steak, fried rice, Christmas cake, ramen, and tendon (tempura rice bowl). But even the seemingly simple recipes like the nori ben and fried rice are far from it, for the first prepared by a single father as school lunch for his little boy tasted different than any others the boy (now a young man) has sampled since and the fried rice, cooked and left by a working mother for her daughter when she returned from school, is described as having been ‘pink’, unlike any fried rice usually seen. Hamburger steak might likewise be a common recipe too, but the taste the client is looking for is one made by a specific person and in a specific place, things being the same with the street side ramen and ten-don eaten by its seeker at a celebratory meal. Japanese Christmas Cake is distinctive to us readers perhaps—a sponge cake layered with whipped cream and strawberries—but each bakery has their way of preparing it!

The stories associated with each dish are at times of estrangement or loss or in others simply of so much time having passed that all that remains of the dish is the memory (sometimes just a case of the place cooking the dish no longer being in existence). Among the clients at Kamogawa this time are some prominent figures, an Olympic hopeful, a successful model (who happens to be an old friend of Koishi) as well as an idol who is somewhat of a one-hit wonder. We also have a businessman pondering over the future of his company and his son’s dreams as also a couple who own a traditional confectionary store (selling Ohagi, among others) dithering over a decision related to the future of their business. This time in one story was also the most unpleasant of the clients encountered so far, a food critic looking for a recipe simply to prove the superiority of the tastes she thinks count over more simple foods. I was glad to see her somewhat put in her place.

In tracing out these recipes and the stories connected with them, which play as much a role in recreating that memory as the food itself, Nagare also ends up helping clients reconsider their situations and stories with new eyes, as a result at times also mending fences or strengthening relationships. The outcome may be simpler in some cases, but in many it is more than just nostalgia or the food memory, also helping change the client’s life in small (even not so small) ways.

It is customary in these stories that each client who enters the doors of the Kamogawa Diner is treated to a set meal. In this book, I felt, these meals seemed far more elaborate than those in the first with dish after dish of seasonal delicacies served by Nagare to each client. The Olympic hopeful in the first story, for instance, finds himself served deep fried hamo eel with sour plum and perilla; deep fried Manganji peppers with Worcester sauce (some western fusion there), miso simmered mackerel with Mygoya ginger dressing, roast beef with wasabi infused soy, teriyaki style duck meatballs with quail eggyolk, chilled tofu, and deep fried Kamo aubergine—this with pork miso soup and rice. I skipped some of the sauces and toppings but I’m sure you get the drift. I love how these meals reflect both the seasons and the care taken in choosing ingredients and pairings. On the clients’ return are awaiting them the recipes they seek and the stories they themselves mightn’t know all of, seeing them return satisfied in more than one way.

While perhaps obligatory, Drowsy the cat is very much present in this book too, mostly just appearing outside the diner as Nagare won’t permit him inside with most of the diner’s visitors taking to him. I was pleased to see though that he is on the covers of the Japanese editions too and not just on those of the translations!

Nagare and Koishi’s lives seem to be going on the same as usual with the work at the diner and memories of Koishi’s mother. But there are hints of a possible romance in Koishi’s life so one will have to stay tuned to see how that develops (this thread is off screen so we don’t meet the love interest).

This second collection too is heartwarming and gentle, so overflowing with food as to be certain to make the reader hungry, but most of all leaving one putting the book down feeling pleased and satisfied.

4.5 stars

Very similar in style to the first book, so if you enjoyed that one, you will like this one. People come to the diner to engage the detective agency in a mission to discover a recipe from their past. They all have a story associated with these dishes. The food descriptions are quite long and detailed and clearly written by someone very knowledgeable in Japanese cuisine. For those of us that are unfamiliar with it, they didn't mean a lot so did not add to the story. The stories are all a little different and interesting, but it does lack an overall plot to tie everything together. So this is really a collection of short stories based around food.

Almost exactly one year on from the release of The Kamogawa Food Detective's comes a second novel in the series, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes.

Once again I absolutely adored this novel. It very much follows the now familiar format of the first, but is no less enjoyable for it.

In fact I think I enjoyed the second installment even more, as I kind of knew what to expect, and was anticipating each new 'case' even more.

This book centres around the now infamous Kamogawa Diner, home and business to a Father and Daughter duo who do more than just serve delicious food.

The Kamogawa Diner is home to a 'food detective' agency that can help find even the trickiest or most obscure dishes from the past.

You want to taste a meal that you had at school twenty two years ago? No problem, these guys will help you find it.

They go to great lengths to ignite their customers memories, and tastebuds, and help their diners experience something really unique.

This book will definitely leave your mouth watering for more..

I've been reading some notable amount of books by Japanese authors, and I'm amazed at their strong philosophical depth, capturing the beauty and melancholy of everyday life. This book is no different except for its slow pacing. Each chapter focuses on new stories that give us a glimpse into their lives. Each character comes to the restaurant with wounds or a desire to reconnect with their past, they're healing by savouring the food in the restaurant. I got quite emotional reading Yumi's story and how she recollected her memories that are buried deep. Also, another moving chapter with Takashi, raised in a small village by his grandmother, who used to make a special dish for him. After moving to the city, he lost touch with his roots and rarely thinks about his past. The restaurant reminds him of what he left behind, both emotionally and culturally.

Hisashi Kashiwai has done it again. Another heart warming book about one of my favourite father daughter duo. My favourite chapter was fried rice. I was starving all the way though this book and it made me crave Japanese food like crazy!

This is the second book in the Kamogawa Food Detectives Series. You do not need to have read the first book in the series to enjoy the stories in this second volume, though.

The six stories in this volume are about people hoping the chef of the Kamogawa Diner in Kyoto is able to recreate a special meal from their past. Hoping it will evoke the same feelings as when they last had the meal.

The book is a slow and cosy read and is meant to be savoured, just like you would savour a wonderful meal. I enjoyed the relaxed pace and that there are no high stakes in each of the stories. The perfect palate cleanser in between some heavier tomes.

I loved The Restaurant of Lost Recipes and was excited to discover the sequel was getting a translation. Much like Before the Coffee Gets Cold you can expect several stories centring around different people and their memories, hearts and emotions. I personally loved this one just as much as the first. It’s beautifully written and highlights connections between memories and community but also food as well.
While there may be a few cultural differences I don’t believe this affects the reading at all since you are sure to resonate with some of the stories contained within.
As always thank you to Pan Macmillan for my copy. My review is always honest and truthful.
I loved The Restaurant of Lost Recipes and was excited to discover the sequel was getting a translation. Much like Before the Coffee Gets Cold you can expect several stories centring around different people and their memories, hearts and emotions. I personally loved this one just as much as the first. It’s beautifully written and highlights connections between memories and community but also food as well.
While there may be a few cultural differences I don’t believe this affects the reading at all since you are sure to resonate with some of the stories contained within.
As always thank you to Pan Macmillan for my copy. My review is always honest and truthful.

No matter how often I say that I’m a bit fatigued by these cosy, slow, nostalgic novels full of short stories, somehow I return to them again and again. The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is the sequel to one such novel, where a father-daughter duo run a food detective service. Stay with me here. This book – and its prequel – isn’t a mystery at all, just a sweet meandering series that features a father-daughter duo that take in clients who are seeking out a specific dish. Many of them have sentimental reasons and stories behind them, of course. The Restaurant of Lost Recipes has some lovely Japanese dishes featured, and more beautiful depictions of those than its predecessor. A sweet read to start my month.