Discover new delicious mysteries in this fourth installment in The Kamogawa Food Detectives series, the beloved Japanese bestseller and celebration of the healing power of food. Keep reading for Janet’s review.
Hisashi Kashiwai’sThe Kamogawa Food Detectivesseries is very popular in Japan. A Serving of Hopeis the fourth in the series. It was translated into English by literary translator Jesse Kirkwood. Read Criminal Element’s Doreen Sheridan’s review ofThe Kamogawa Food Detectivesto get a sense of what draws readers to Kashiwai’s mysteries.
Chef Nagare and his daughter Detective Koishi, the owners of the Kamogawa Diner, are “food detectives.” It’s necessary to be somewhat of a detective to find the diner, which is “down a Kyotoalleyway, near Higashi Honganji Temple”; would-be clients search in vain for signage. Kenichi Yoshizawa fortunately reached “a weathered two-story building that matched the description he’d read.” After he slid open the door, a young woman confirmed he was in the Kamogawa Diner.
A man dressed in a traditional, loose-fitting samue emerged from the kitchen. “Here to eat?”
“Actually,” said Kenichi, producing his business card, “I was hoping you might be able to track down a dish for me.”
“Ah.” The man passed the card to the young woman. “My daughter handles that side of things.”
“Gardenia Legal Services . . . Tokyo,” she said, glancing up at him. “Are you a lawyer?”
“Just a clerk at the firm. I’m still studying for the bar—though I know I look a little old for that.”
The young woman introduces herself: “I’m Koishi Kamogawa, head of the Kamogawa Detective Agency. And this is my dad, Nagare, who runs the restaurant.” Nagare looks at Kenichi and says he “must be hungry,” and offers to serve him the set menu. Kenichi agrees immediately. Don’t let the label “diner” fool you—Nagare is an incredible chef. Descriptions of the dishes verge on food porn. After mentioning two fish courses, sashimi and hamo eel tempura, Chef Nagare switches to describing meat.
The small Karatsu plate on the right is lightly seared Omi beef, paired with an amanatsu ponzu sauce for a citrus kick. If you like, you can add a little grated garlic to the ponzu. On the left of the middle row is steamed pork—try that with the Korean-style sweet-and-spicy sauce, or just the mustard soy sauce if you want to keep things simple.
The meal ends when Kenichi turns down an offer of a second delicious bowl of savory porridge. He tells Nagare that he can’t recall when he “lingered like that over a meal.” Nagare takes him to Koishi’s office. She asks him to fill out a short informational form, makes a few comments, and then cuts to the chase.
“So, what’s the dish you want us to find?”
“Okay. A special type of miso soup?”
“No. Just the ordinary kind.”
The kind his mother made him every day. But it isn’t an “ordinary” miso soup that Kenichi wants. “I want to taste the soup she made me on the morning of March twentieth, twelve years ago. The day I left Obuse.” Kenichi left home to become a lawyer, but he hasn’t been able to pass the bar. His grades are getting worse. Koishi thinks she understands what he’s looking for: “So, you’re hoping your mom’s miso soup will remind you why you set out to become a lawyer in the first place?” Maybe. But perhaps Kenichi wants to go home. He hopes eating that special dish will give him clarity.
Everyone who searches for the Kamogawa Diner wants the Food Detectives to both track down a recipe and recreate a dish that was important in their past. What do they hope to gain from eating a dish that means so much to them, even if the particulars are lost in the mists of time? They hope for answers to life-long questions. Answers which will satisfy them and ultimately bring them peace.
Each story inA Serving of Hopefollows a satisfying formula. A potential client comes to the hidden diner. Chef Nagare feeds them an exquisite meal, a meal that feeds the soul as much as physical hunger. Detective Koishi interviews the supplicants, zeroing in on all the little details. Those nuances form a roadmap for father and daughter to pursue.
Two weeks later, the client returns. The dish is served to him or her. Is it the same? How does it make them feel? Does eating it unlock a part of their life that has been blocked by an unresolved issue? Yes, it does, because it aids and enlarges their reflections. They have eaten a “serving of hope,” a hope that their present life will improve after they gain knowledge. “The Kamogawa Diner attracts lost souls” and helps those souls heal.
When we eat favorite dishes from our past, we revisit our memories.The Hundred-Foot Journey, a movie celebrating French and Indian cuisine, is flavored with pithy comments about special dishes and how they make you feel. Two quotes from the movie, “Every bite takes you home,” and “Food is memories,” sum up the essence ofA Serving of Hope. Fair warning: If you’re peckish when you begin readingA Serving of Hope, you’ll be ravenous when you finish—hungry for Chef Nagare’s delicious food as well as the next book inThe Kamogawa Food Detectivesseries.
Filed Under: book reviewCozy Culinary Mysteriesfamily life fictionHisashi KashiwaiJanet WebbLiterary FictionReadReviewsThe Kamogawa Food Detectives
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Janet Webb
Janet Webb aka @janetwebb.bsky.social has unpredictable opinions on books. Stories on royals and politics catch my eye. Ottawa born/East Tennessee now. Grew up on the books of Helen MacInnes, Mary Stewart, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Anne Perry . . . I’m always looking for a great new mystery series.
