Los misterios de la taberna Kamogawa (Taberna Kamogawa 1)

Nagare and his daughter Koishi run a quiet little restaurant, nearly hidden on a backstreet in Kyoto. Their main objection is that of being food detectives. If you want to replicate a dish from long ago that you know little of how it’s made, these are the people you would seek. But they do more than just recreate a favorite dish. Nagare travels to various places, to find the correct recipe, and more. He connects these seekers with their past. Some stories are poignant, some are happy, but all are satisfied in some manner. The people who come leave with much more than a favorite meal. They fulfilled and contented.

In terms of Japanese literature, this is not the best and quite average. But it is a reminder of why so many love Japanese literature. It is like a breadth of fresh air—light and not heavy. And like so many Japanese novels, the plot is novel. Who would have thought that you could get a detective agency to re-create a long-lost dish, and in its re-creation, even help you understand what happened in the past? I can't help thinking what dish I would want re-created if I have such a chance.

This is a series of short stories about the Kamogawa Food Detectives: a restaurant where people who want to recreate a recipe they ate in the past can come to ask the chef to figure out how to make it. Each story is the same: a person walks into the restaurant and provides some details about what they remember about what they ate and why it is important to them. The chef/detective's daughter takes notes, and then the person comes back to the restaurant a few weeks later and the chef serves them a dish that is exactly what they remember, and describes how he figured out how to make it.

The stories are all so short that there is not room for the detective work to be interesting: that is always boiled down to a few sentences. The interesting part is how food and memory are intertwined, but the stories are so short that there's not much exploration here either.

I was hoping that there would be some thread of connection between the stories, other than the detective, but there really wasn't, and there's no time for character development. The writing is very sparse, so that's not very interesting either.

“I reckon we always meet the people we're supposed to meet, which is why you ended up walking through that door.”

“Things can taste very different depending on how you’re feeling.”

“The idea of happiness pitching up in my life like that all of a sudden – it terrified me.”

The Kamogawa Food Detectives tells the story of a father and daughter duo who, at a hidden restaurant, recreate the dishes from their customer's pasts that have extra special meaning. While the reasons a customer wants a dish recreated vary, the detective work and care that goes into tracking down the dish, its story, its people, its ingredients, and its "secrets" never changes. I enjoyed learning about the different regions, foods, and stories -- in particular the beef stew, tonkatsu, and nikujaga.

Unfortunately, I wasn't so convinced by this book. I like the idea of this hidden restaurant where people come because they want to try a long-forgotten dish and its flavour. You get to know something about these people, but how the chef is ultimately able to cook the dish perfectly remains somewhat vague. I would have liked to have seen more about how he searches for ingredients, spices etc.

What a charming book. This was a great one for me to listen to as I think having access to the Made me think about food, memories, and learning about our pasts. A father daughter duo runs a low key restaurant, that just always seems to have the right food, and they remake important dishes from clients pasts in the detective portion of the book.

Weirdly, the thing this book reminds me the most of is a well loved copy of Guy de Maupassant's short stories that I read in my teens. I love the enthralling sense of place and seasons. I love the ritualistic repetitions at the beginning and end of each story, as the travelers arrive and depart and interact with Drowsy the cat. I love how this travels through Japan in many times and places without leaving the restaurant, and I love the nostalgia it evokes. Peaceful, immersive, and enraptured by food.

I am not much for short stories which may be why I am less enthusiastic than others. Each story has the same structure. The translation appears to be good and the stories are cute. However, without knowing much about Japanese food, I think the book may lose a layer of interest. The connection between people and good food being love is the underlying theme. There is a cat (Drowsy) who lives just outside the restaurant to add another small layer of warmth to the book.

2024 read. I was very excited to read this after coming across some extremely favorable reviews for it. I'm a big fan of this style of Japanese novel. However, I found myself disappointed with the start of the book, feeling that maybe it suffered in translation a bit, or something. I did put the book aside for a few days, but picked it up again and finished it that day. It grew on me-- not enough to become a favorite, but enough to keep me reading. Besides, it has a terrific cover! Rounded up in star ratings.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!

What more could you ask for, food, family, beautiful writing and sensitive storytelling? I want this to be a cooking show, because I would follow it religiously. What a lovely little book. The only thing I request is more Drowsy the cat!

The Kamogawa Diner doesn’t really advertise much, there’s not even a sign outside it’s doors, but the customers who need to find them always do. You see, the Kamogawa Diner isn’t just a diner, it’s a “food detective” service run by the father-daughter duo of Koishi and Nagare. Filled with six different customers' memories and dishes, follow the Kamogawa Diner uses their customer’s treasured memories, the pair are able to recreate lost recipes that provide links to vanished moments.

There’s two things that will most likely get me to read a book. One: be recently translated from a popular Japanese seller. Two: put a cat on the cover. The cat doesn’t even need to be the main focus of the book, a general cat will do just fine.

This is such a cute book - and a warm hug for those foodie book lovers out there as well. I can’t cook to save my life, but this novel went into detail about each of the dishes so it may be something someone could actually follow and make their own versions of the recipes.

Some of the stories I felt were a little drawn out, but they were people sharing a fond memory (or what they could remember of their memory). I’ve said this so many times, but Japanese literature has such an amazing way of capturing the human experience and I always enjoy reading translated work.

Overall, a wonderfully fun, hungry story about a food detective, a father and daughter duo who use their skill of deduction to help customers recreate that special dish from their memories. I can see a lot of contemporary fiction lovers enjoying this book, as well as those who’d like a shorter comfort read.

*Thank you G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

So delightful!

Talk about food for the soul! An out of the way, humble diner in Kyoto that serves up the most wonderful traditional Japanese meals. The place is not easy to locate. There’s no signs or directions. You really have to want to find it. Nagare Kamogawa and his daughter Koishi run the small eating house. Nagare is the chef, Koishi waits tables. On the detecting side of the business, Koishi takes down the information for people who are searching for how a particular dish from their memory is cooked. Nagare is the detective. All the client has to go on is a one line advertisement in the Gourmet Monthly magazine. At the end of each case Koishi and Nagare ask their client to pay into an account how much their solving of the case was worth to them. Nagare cooks the dish the client has sought.
People come to find the dish their mother might have cooked, the meal they remember as a child with their grandfather, a myriad of unusual requests.
The dishes are sublime. I’m spending an inordinate amount of time looking them up (in my own cookbooks and online) The dishes are served on designated plates and types of pottery ware from all around Japan. I’ve also been looking some of those up in my fav. Japanese tableware shop.
This is just such a wonderfully encouraging read. You can feel the texture of the dishes arrayed, almost taste them. The color and movement, the descriptions of places I’ve visited are so evocative. Swoon worthy! The people find understanding, warmth and friendship. Some return.
A startling, yet humbly sumptuous read that made me long for such a place.

A Putnam ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.

translated, Japan, foodie, contemporary, ex-cop, detective, father-and-daughter, investigations, friendship, friends, family, nostalgia, culinary, cultural-exploration, cultural-heritage*****

The Kamogawa Diner is a restaurant of “lost recipes” where patrons request the Food Detectives (ex-cop father and modern daughter) to unlock a prized memory from their past. The mystery and the investigations are very uncommon to many of us but the foodie aspect is somewhat similar to the foodies of some European nations. I was delighted to find that it has a fluid translation and that I could use it to go on a cultural expedition as well as a foodie delight. Now all I need is an audio so I don't have to mangle the Japanese in my head!
Thanks to Jesse Kirkwood for the smooth translation.
I requested and received an EARC from PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons via NetGalley. Thank you!

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

This work of translation is a unique kind of mystery book made up of a sequence of short story "cases." If someone is seeking a memorable restaurant food from decades ago, or a re-creation of their long-dead mother's soup recipe, they go to the food detectives in their tucked-away shop that is almost impossible to find. The father and daughter duo therein use the scant clues provided by the client to re-create the long-lost food.

Now, many of the clues involves minute details from Japanese culture and geography. These aren't mysteries that an ignorant American like myself could solve, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment at all because the logic is explained beautifully. Plus, the food is described in luscious detail. This is a dangerous book to eat while hungry!