The Kamogawa Food Detectives

By: Hisashi Kashiwai, Jesse Kirkwood - translator

Narrated by: Hanako Footman

The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese series, for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?


Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals. But that's not the main reason customers stop by . . .


The father-daughter duo are 'food detectives'. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person’s treasured memories – dishes that may well hold the keys to their forgotten past and future happiness. The restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to vanished moments, creating a present full of possibility.


A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.

Beautiful story

Great story and wonderful narration! Can't wait for the next book from this author ☺️

A different type of mystery book

if you are looking for a dish from your childhood, or past event, and are hoping to taste it "just once more" you need to contact the Kamogawa food detectives. but more than just recreating some version of the dish, Nagare (a retired detective) and his daughter track down everything from the ingredients used at that time in that region to walking the clients through memories of why this dish is so memorable. This book - with it's stories within a story - will bring you to tears at some of their memories or smiles from other patrons (and that cat). I cannot wait for the next one to come out.

Cozy but too simple

This book is good at describing Japanese food but is not very meaty which left me wanting more.

Each chapter follows the same formula. Someone comes into the restaurant and complains that it was hard to find the place, and the owner says something like "only those destined to find us will find us." The customer describes some food they ate a long time ago and want to be re-created. They are told to come back in two weeks. When they come back, the owner tells them, "I went here and here, talked to these people, found these hints. Here is the dish you wanted." Oh, and there is a cat, but the cat does not advance the story in any way.

Initially I thought there was going to be some magical realism at play. Perhaps there would be some mystical reason those people found the restaurant despite it being unmarked on a backstreet. Maybe the cat would be magical or something. However, there doesn't seem to be anything like that.

This book is easy to listen to but it doesn't have any substance to it.

A Beautiful Love Letter

This is a wonderful set of vignettes that transport you. You see, hear, smell, feel, taste, and experience everything through the beautifully written images. It paints a magical journey.

I wish they would create a cookbook from all these wonderful recipes!

A Great Listen!

I truly enjoyed this book! The main characters felt like familiar friends sharing stories about the memories their clients wanted to re-live. A great listen and not too long. I actually wished it was a little longer, I wanted to spend more time with the dad and his daughter.