This book has Before The Coffee Gets Cold vibes. As in, it’s set in one place (an eatery in Kyoto), there are a myriad of characters that rotate into the eatery looking for help of some sort, and the owners provide help and knowledge. There is that vibe of reminiscences and nostalgia, but in this case, no magic happens of any sort, and instead some footwork and investigation by this retired policeman – although we aren’t really given that much details into how that all happens. But somehow Nagare KAMOGAWA and his daughter Koishi make it happen.
This is a book for foodies for sure. The people looking for help are all looking for a particular food that they may had once eaten, maybe when they were kids, or with a loved one who’s now gone. And so it has all those feel good, sentimental erm feels that go along with this kind of story.
A gentle and heartwarming read that just makes you hungry for Japanese food.
What is one dish that you would want to taste one more time? I think for me, it is my late grandmother’s Kong Bah, a stewed pork dish that’s popular in Singapore. It’s served inside a soft steamed plain bao. When I was a kid, we would have Sunday dinner with my grandparents and other relatives. Usually there would be some meat dishes, stir fried vegetables, maybe a steamed fish, and a soup. The kids would go to pick out the food we wanted and sit at the small table on the front patio. The adults would sit at the round table and eat together. My grandmother didn’t cook Kong Bah every Sunday, so it was a treat when she did. I remember requesting for her to cook it for my birthday. I sometimes make Kong Bah for my kids now, but I guess I always wondered what her recipe for it was. Am I remembering that it was extra tasty or was it because of nostalgia-tinted tastebuds?
Real Life Reading 