#BookReview: The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi, translated by Cat Anderson

#BookReview: The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi, translated by Cat AndersonThe Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen (Meals to Remember at the Chibineko Kitchen, #1) by Yuta Takahashi, Cat Anderson
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via Edelweiss
Formats available: large print, paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: magical realism, sad fluff, world literature
Series: Meals to Remember at the Chibineko Kitchen #1
Pages: 192
Published by Penguin Books on February 4, 2025 (First published April 14, 2020)
Purchasing Info: Author's WebsitePublisher's WebsiteAmazonBarnes & NobleKoboBookshop.orgBetter World Books
Goodreads

Your table awaits at the Chibineko Kitchen, where a soul-nourishing meal in the company of the resident kitten will transport you back in time to reunite with departed loved ones—for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and The Midnight Library.
In a remote seaside town outside of Tokyo, Kotoko makes her way along a seashell path, lured by whispers of an enigmatic restaurant whose kagezen, or traditional meals offered in remembrance of loved ones, promise a reunion with the departed. When a gust of wind lifts off her hat, she sees running after it a young man who looks like her recently deceased brother. But it’s not her brother; it’s Kai, the restaurant’s young chef, who returns her hat and brings her to the tiny establishment, where he introduces her to Chibi, the resident kitten, and serves her steaming bowls of simmered fish, rice, and miso soup—the exact meal her brother used to cook for her. As she takes her first delicious bite, the gulls outside fall silent, the air grows hazy, and Kotoko begins a magical journey of last chances and new beginnings.

My Review:

As I’ve been saying for the past couple of weeks, I’m looking for comfort reads right now. The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen looked like it would take care of that particular desire, and it certainly did.

The cover looked oh-so-familiar, so I had to look back, and it IS familiar. It’s very similar to the cover of What You Are Looking For Is In the Library, and the story is similar as well – although there’s no cat in the library. That would have made that lovely story perfect – which it nearly was anyway.

The story about this curious kitten, Chibi, and the kitchen (and café) by the sea that provides her with a home – and fish! – is as lovely and charming as Chibi herself is. It’s also more than a bit reminiscent of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, so if you liked that you’ll love this, especially if you think that a good story is made just that bit better by the addition of a cat.

In this particular story, or rather set of stories loosely linked by Chibi and her kitchen, the stories are all wrapped around love and loss and especially closure. They’re all hurt/comfort stories, even though for the most part, both the hurt and the comfort are provided by a loved one who has already passed.

The Chibineko Kitchen specializes in ‘remembrance meals’, meals that are prepared to invoke the deepest memories of the person who is gone. They’re not supposed to be ‘fancy’ meals – although they might be. It all depends on what tastes and smells will best and most bring the memory of their lost loved one to life, one final time.

Because that’s the magic of the Chibineko Kitchen. For the length of time that the freshly prepared meal steams in the air, the dead return, just long enough for a short but meaningful conversation.

In the case of Kotoko and her desperate need to speak with her brother Yuiti one last time, it’s Kotoko’s need to deal with her survivor’s guilt that prompts her to come to the Chibineko Kitchen. Her brother shoved her out of the way of the oncoming vehicle that killed him instead of her. He was the bright star in their family and she doesn’t believe she was worthy of his sacrifice and doesn’t know how to live without him. It’s his words that help her move on and help her to help their grieving parents as well.

In return, in gratitude, in shared connection or perhaps all of the above, Kotoko returns to the Chibineko Kitchen to help Kai, the owner of the little cafe, find his own closure, even as he gives that gift to others.

A sad, sweet and lovely story of hurt, and comfort, and paying it forward. It’s the quintessential ‘sad fluff’ story, that’s a bit sad, a whole lot fluffy and leads to a cathartic if not always happy ending. This was just the comfort read I was looking for on a misty, moisty, cloudy day.

Escape Rating B: I picked this up because I knew exactly what I’d be getting into. Even though I wasn’t familiar with the concept of ‘remembrance meals’, the idea of the whole, that by some bit of ‘magic’ or imagination people who had experienced a loss could get some closure through the concept is very similar to Before the Coffee Gets Cold. So if you liked that you’ll like this.

The format is very much like that book as well, along with What You Are Looking For Is In the Library, mixed with a bit of my personal favorite book of this type, The Kamogawa Food Detectives. In fact, if the idea of these books sounds interesting but you’re not so sure about the magical realism bits, definitely take a look at The Kamogawa Food Detectives because that particular series doesn’t rely on magic, but on research. Which is magical in its own right, but not of the foolish wand waving or visits from the beyond type.

The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen is all of those in a very big book blender, with a few ‘miaows’ from The Full Moon Coffee Shop added for extra adorableness – and cat hair.

What made this one end with just the right note was the resolution at the end. Both the revelation that it’s never worked for Kai himself because the preparation of a remembrance meal isn’t something one can do for oneself. It must be done out of love and care, and the problem that each of the visitors to the Chibineko Kitchen is that they don’t have a lot of that for themselves when they visit – and that’s true for Kai as well.

That a story that is filled with hurt and comfort and closure managed to have a happy ending after all wrapped this comfortable and comforting read up with a lovely bow. Which means that I’m delighted that this is the first book in a series, and that the second book, The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen (because of course the kitten will have grown up), will be available in English this summer.