Had to buy it as I forgot to download it :) But I really enjoyed this return to the Chibineko kitchen! The choices Nagi Hayakawa has to make are heartbreaking. If you liked the 1st one you will definitely enjoy this one!

A second visit to the Chibineko Kitchen and if you haven’t read the first book, don’t worry. The Chibineko Kitchen, run by Kai who is also assisted
when she is able by Kotoko, serves remembrance meals. Chibi, the little kitten is still there and is still trying to escape every chance it gets. Visitors book in and request a special meal and while they are eating it they get a one time only chance to meet with someone who has departed, a one time chance to say those words they never said. As with all books of this genre - a genre that I enjoy - there are four sort of interconnected stories and here you don’t just get what happens when the person visits, you get more depth. You get an unpacking of this person’s life and you understand why they have chosen to visit and request a remembrance meal. When the departed visit they can only stay while the food is hot. Once it has stopped steaming then they must leave. This time we have a young woman with a terminal illness wanting to ask her mother for advice, we have a man who has rarely ventured out of his house for almost 20 years, we have a widow consumed by loneliness and an actor who has lost his young son. Each story explores grief and love and how to get the courage to take another step. I loved all the stories but the final one brought tears to my eyes. The book even includes the recipe for the remembrance meal at the end of each chapter. This is warm and comforting, a hug in a book and yes, I will visit the Chibineko Kitchen again if there is a third book.

This was such a lovely book, I think I enjoyed it even more than the first one! I love that the stories are interconnected. They are so emotional while also being uplifting. I've had a difficult few weeks and this was the perfect read.

It was great seeing some of the characters from the first book, I wish we saw them even more but I know this is quite a long series, so hopefully we will see more of their story in the coming installments.

This is one of the best ‘healing fiction’ series I've read, so I definitely think it is worth a try if you are interested. I can't wait to read the next one.

To return to the chibineko kitchen is such a treat. I loved the first book so much. I laughed, smiled and cried as I did again! Thank you to the author, NetGalley and publisher.

A little while back, when the first book in this series came out, I had rather overdosed on these 'healing books', but back then, I thought that The Chibineko Kitchen'was the best of them, so I was pleased to get an eARC of this one.

The Chibineko Kitchen serves remembrance meals, meals that allow the first to talk to a dead loved one for as long as the good is steaming. There are four loosely connected stories; a girl wanting advice from her mum, a man who wants to thank his mum, and so on. The message of all the stories is to live life to the full.

We meet up with some of the characters from the first book as well, Kotoko is working at the Chibineko Kitchen, so we get to follow her story; and of course, there is Chibi, the restaurants cat, who always helps people along.

*Many thanks to Netgally and the publishers for a copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*

A cute read!

This is the second book on this series and I have to say that I prefer the first one more.

Like my favourite series Before The Coffee Gets Cold or The Food Detectives one, it can get quite repetitive if the way the storytelling doesn't change slightly. However, it is a lovely read and is a very short book.

Yuta Takahashi's "The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen" is book two in a series of books that combine food, recipes, and grief. Customers come to the chibineko (small cat) kitchen to be reunited one more time with a loved one through a remembrance meal. This kind of novel could be schmaltzy, but somehow the combination of food, earnestness and emotion works. I get drawn into the stories each time. There's something comforting about reading a book that highlights the pain of grief and how we have to process that sorrow to continue with our lives. The world is so chaotic and frightening right now so it is such a relief to read a book that reminds me that honest human interactions are so important.

I very much like the idea of a remembrance meal and also the recipes and details about the particular food stuff/region it is from were all really nice detail added to this book, and it was a pleasant, quick read.
I'm not sure that it added a lot new to the cosy Japanese genre and although you don't have to have read the first book there are lots of nods back to this and it does add to the reading experience if you have read book one.
As sequels go this is a good one and I'm glad that I am continuing to read books from this genre even though it is becoming saturated.

“Nothing had changed, all he had done was to turn his gaze forward; yet now the landscape ahead of him looked different from before.”

What if you could meet a loved one, who’s died, just one more time? Could they change the way you view the days ahead of you in this life? That is exactly what happens when you visit the Chibineko Kitchen for a remembrance meal, which can bring back someone you loved and now miss from the world beyond but only once and only for as long as that meal is steaming hot. But that one time may be enough for you to let go of your worries, your guilt and see life in a different light.

In this wonderful book, which you can devour in less than a couple of hours, we have four visits to this special kitchen run by Kai. First we meet a girl who only has five years to live and whilst she is in love, she feels it isn’t right to accept an offer of marriage. Can her mother offer her advice? Then it’s a son, who feels all he had ever managed in life before he lost his mum was to be a burden and he never managed to make her proud or help her himself as she got older. He now has something to tell his mother. The third visitor is an old lady wishing for the old days when she wasn’t alone and lonely. Can she see her life in a different way? Finally the parents of a boy who died in a car crash at just ten years old. Could meeting their son bring them the peace they cannot find?

A beautiful sequel to The Chibineko Kitchen and just as heartwarming. If you love Japanese fiction, you will enjoy this one. I must say the moments where the living meet their loved ones from the world beyond always gets me. Always so moving and it does make you think about whether your feelings and thoughts could change if you could see someone you’ve lost just one more time.

Book 2 of this series equally a lovely read as the first book. Themes of love and forgiveness, heartache and joy. Highly recommend this book.

I loved these books, the premise behind Themis just so beautiful, you book a remembrance meal and hopefully get to meet someone from your past who is no longer with you. It's a lovely idea, one I wish so much we could all experience, but the emotion, the sensitivity involved in the writing andit is so beautifully handled. An emotional pleasure

Let me tell you this: I LOVED the first book. It was one of my top 10 reads for 2024, and I had no idea there would ever be a book two.
I've said it before, and I have to say it again, but Asian writers have a way of writing that just hits different. Everything reads better, the food is described better, and it's like reading poetry with new letters all at once. This book is like this. Its healing, its heartbreaking, Yuta manages to send me into so many emotions that I cannot put the book down. I would go as far to say that this book is a little bit better than the first, and I don't understand how. All I can tell you is that this novel made me feel, think and learn. I have it in my brain and it will not go away. This book needs the attention, and the translator has done wonderful work. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book, and letting me give my honest feedback.

A sweet, easy read in this second instalment of Chibineko Kitchen stories. I loved the premise of these books, you book a remembrance meal and hopefully get to meet someone from your past who is no longer with you. It's a lovely format, and beautifully handled. This series deserves much success, it is a joy to read.

ARC Review: *The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars – tender, lyrical, soul-restoring)

There are books that feed your imagination. And then there are books like *The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen*—ones that feed your soul.

In this quietly magical sequel, we return to the seaside haven of **Chibineko Kitchen**, where meals do more than nourish—they open a window to the past, offering visitors a single, sacred chance to reunite with someone they’ve lost.

**Kotoko**, now working in the kitchen that changed her life, continues her journey of healing alongside the enigmatic chef **Kai** and the playful kitten **Chibi**. This time, they welcome new visitors, each with a heartache quietly simmering beneath the surface:

🍵 A woman with a terminal illness, yearning for her mother’s wisdom.
🍵 A recluse peeking out from years of isolation.
🍵 A widow wrapped in grief, blind to the love still around her.
🍵 An aging actor chasing relevance—and purpose.

Each story is a gentle exploration of grief, love, connection, and the courage to move forward. There’s a warmth in the prose that feels like holding a hot cup of tea on a rainy day. The narrative is sparse yet vivid, unfolding like a haiku—brief, beautiful, and deeply felt.

**Tropes & Themes**:
🍚 Magical Realism
🐾 Healing through Food
🫖 Found Family
🌊 Gentle Second Chances
😿 Emotional Catharsis (with a side of cat magic)
📖 Literary Style with Cozy Heart

Like *Before the Coffee Gets Cold*, this is not a plot-heavy book—it’s a quiet contemplation, a tapestry of moments that linger long after the final page. And yes, there are **recipes** included, which feel like a gift: an invitation to continue the story in your own kitchen.

*The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen* is a love letter to what it means to keep going, to keep cooking, and to keep our memories alive in the most nourishing ways.

**Thank you to John Murray Press and NetGalley for this breathtaking ARC. I savored every page like a bowl of warm miso soup.** 🐾🍲

Last year, I read the first one instalment and remember loving it. I was really excited to be invited back to review this second story in the Meals to Remember series.

What worked for me:
😺 I really like Kai and Kotoko. I was disappointed we didn't spend as much time with them in this book as the previous one. I'm sensing a slow burn development arc for these two characters but I worry that the impact may be lost unless the customer stories evolve as the series continues.
😺 Like the first book, this has a quiet theme of cats, even outside of the restaurant cat.
😺 At the halfway point, something different happens to shake up the experience the latter two diners have at the restaurant. I really appreciated being surprised and the way that two new elements were introduced into the mix - it was a perfectly timed change for this reader!
😺 The food sounded delicious and I'll always love it when novels include recipes!
😺 As with the last book, the cover design for this volume is excellent.

What didn't work for me:
😿 The first two stories both had uncomfortable and unconvincing romance plots that felt awkward to read. I wasn't a fan of the morality / self-improvement 'messages ' either (YMMV but I find this so patronizing in fiction).
😿 Like Before the Coffee Gets Cold and The Go-Between series, I get so irritated by the customers: they go to all this trouble to pull a poor dead soul back from beyond the veil but then are too meek or awkward to have a conversation with them and waste loads of limited time wringing their hands instead of engaging with the people they're there to see!
😿 Like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Food Detectives, and The Go-Between, this book suffers from repetition. I could see the author trying to shake it up, reminding us of backstory throughout the book rather than info-dumping in the first story; but it felt like we couldn't be trusted to remember core rules or backstory from the previous book. While I appreciated the author paying attention to the different ways they said it, I'm not sure the Kai/Kotoko need to comment on the cat getting out of the restaurant every single chapter.
😿 As with the previous book, the translation felt a bit stilted and British. There were a few word choices that felt kinda off and the writing had a monotone, simplistic feel (as though written for a younger audience) that I don't remember from the first book.

What I'm on the fence about:
🐱 The stories within this book were sad and downright distressing in places. I expected a degree of this given it's a book about reuniting with the dead, but where the first book felt like a celebration of life or making peace with death, these characters all seemed more sad with melancholy endings.

These past two years, the market has been flooded, dare I say saturated, with books like these - cozy lil serial shorts wherein semi-interconnected characters meet with the dead through food. I've stopped reading pretty much every series because they're all starting to feel tired and formulaic at this point. Interestingly, while the Meals to Remember series does have its problems, I think it shows promise that similar stories don't for its story mechanics evolution and character development. I was glad to spend time with this book and I'm still intrigued enough to read the next one.

3.5/5

I loved the first book of the series, and was very happy to receive approval for this book, the second in the series.The Calico Cat at chibineko kitchen follows the same pattern as the previous volume. All the characters are good and the stories are heartwarming, it makes us feel at peace. There are a couple of characters we find recurring from the previous book. Overall it's a great read. I thank netgalley and John Murray for eARC copy.

I found the initial Chibineko Kitchen book slight, but soothing. The Calico Cat - as its title suggests - does not deviate from this norm. It instead contains four self-contained stories that follow the basic formula set up by the previous volume. We open with someone in crisis, who hears about the Chibineko Kitchen's Rememberance Meals (which, if you are not familiar with the previous novel, will briefly allow you a one time opportunity to meet the dead person you are remembering). We first go through methodical unpacking of the problem (someone with a terminal illness whose Mum died young, an old woman feeling lonely, a 40-year-old man who has never worked in his life...) They travel to the kitchen, interact with the staff and the cat, and then eat their meal. The magic occurs, they get closure or advice from the dead person, and then they return to normality, happier and able to face the world. And it then wraps up with a short recipe for an aspect of the remembrance meal.

There is comfort in the formula, and these are probably not best read in one sitting but over some time. There's a mournful self-help feeling that permeates, it is in the set-up, and usually the advice or solace given by the visitation is pretty obvious (a few just want their decisions confirmed). Takahashi is already running out of ways to kill people traumatically; here we return to terminal illnesses and car crashes, but I can certainly see this series continuing sporadically. There is a tiny amount of continuity with the staff of the kitchen, but you can easily drop in, and I found the whole effect, as with the original, really rather soothing.

Set in the same cozy Japanese restaurant, which serves ‘remembrance meals’ and is home to an adorable kitten, this story once again brings comfort and nostalgia to life. These special meals help people reconnect with loved ones who have passed away, offering closure and heartfelt moments.🥺✨

The book is divided into four parts, each featuring a remembrance meal, a recipe, and a touching story of love and loss. Kotoko and Kai’s journey continues, and we also see the return of familiar characters from the previous book.📖

If you haven’t already, do check out The Chibineko Kitchen for its blend of comforting Japanese cuisine and emotional storytelling and then grab this new release. At under 250 pages, it’s a quick yet heartwarming read!✨❤️

Chibineko Kitchen. Oh, what a wonderful place. I've already missed our sassy cat who longs to venture outside every time the door is left open even just slightly. It's no secret that I adored the first installment and was desperate to continue my journey here. I'm utterly grateful that I was given the pre-approved link to access this one.

The things I love about this second book is how the story comes full circle. At the very beginning, we already learnt the history of Chibineko Kitchen, how it became somewhat popular among those who needed it the most, and yet, this one adds more depth to the already existing background. The recipe in the end of each chapter is delightful! I love coming across it and would be delighted to try some. The little glimpses of the customers who order remembrance meals from both book one and two are equally sad. Though I gotta admit the first one is still my favorite to this very day. What's unfortunate is there isn't much happening to the relationship of our main characters, Kotoko and Kai, despite feeling at first that their chemistry was a bit rushed. Perhaps it will develop in the next book, which hopefully will be translated soon.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book that I really enjoyed. I have attached my review below.

The Calico Cat At The Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi, is the second book in this series that talks about four characters, each drawn to the kitchen by their grief and sorrow of losing their loved ones. Kai, the owner and chef at this magical and mysterious kitchen, prepares remembrance meals for his guests, that gives them a chance to reconnect with someone they’ve lost and get closure.

Each story is an emotional tale capturing the complexity of grief, love, heartbreak and the small things and memories we hold onto after losing someone we love. The writing is delicate with an atmosphere that feels like stepping into a dream at twilight - bittersweet, serene, and comforting.

This book offers quiet, reflective moments on grief and closure that feels like a warm hug. It's a beautiful and heart warming read that stays with you even after the last page.