The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

In Kashiwai’s second offering (after The Kamogawa Detectives) in his popular series, he repeats the formula that made the earlier book so successful. Retired detective Nagare Kamogawa and his daughter Koishi run a Kyoto restaurant that functions as a food detective agency. The two find and recreate lost recipes. Each chapter describes a specific search: a champion swimmer seeks out the nori-ben (a Japanese bento lunchbox with nori seaweed and rice) recipe his estranged father used to make; a food writer wants to find the hamburger steak dish her father cooked for her son; a couple longs for the Christmas cake their late son regularly bought from a bakery; and more. In addition to tantalizing recipes, the narrative is driven by the desire to recapture lost love, reconcile with a parent, or relive one’s youth. Ingredients and items are lovingly detailed. For example, there are vivid descriptions of tableware: Rikyu chopsticks made of red cedar, a Mashiko earthen teapot, a Shokado bento box, Imari plates, Karatsu ware, Kutani, and porcelain donburi bowls. The restaurant cat, Drowsy, also makes an encore appearance.