This short story takes us to a hidden restaurant, one that can only be found by chance or with powerful magic. The proprietor is a retired archmage. The food might taste divine, but there is no magic involved in the preparation, only skill.

And that skill is well described, as a few of the chapters are basically just a more captivating recipe guides. Readers that also enjoy cooking might be more appreciative of those, but they are not too long to get through if you are not interested.

As for the actual story. We get a glimpse into the restaurant's life during one more tumultuous evening. I found the guests and their discussion very interesting and enjoyable to read. We get introduced to all kinds of magical creatures and the issue discussed is one that threatens the whole magical community. I could see how the environment of the restaurant and the good food made everyone less antagonistic.

I might have only enjoyed myself enough for 3* but I think objectively this story deserves more. I didn't have any issues with it and I can't say if anything could have been changed for me to enjoy it more.

This novella is a side story of the Hidden Wishes series. I haven't read that series or any other from this author, but now I am definitely interested in doing so.

I received an ARC for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )

Cute. Nothing special. The food porn was nice.

I will happily watch an anime entitled Restaurant to Another World on a lazy evening: silly characters, silly back stories, everyone is having a food orgasm every five minutes. This is probably the reason I found The Nameless Restaurant on my kindle (where did it come from? Lol).

This genre has been done before ;) It did not quite work in book form, not in this novella, at least.

The writing did not keep my interest. So, I felt that the book had rather too much conversation, too much information about hidden magical creatures among us, and too many discussions on what magicians can do about global pandemics. Too little food!!! The food was scrumptious, though, I got some inspiration for my fried rice. For this, I give The Nameless Restaurant an extra star :) ( )

The Nameless Restraurant (Hidden Dishes: Book 1) by Tao Wong is released June 1st, 2023

3.5⭐️

The Nameless Restraurant is a nice cozy novella that consists of 108 pages. The author was very descriptive when it came to the food and cooking of the food. I was hungry throughout reading this book, due to that fact.

I really like Mo Meng. I did, however, find myself wanting to learn more about him, aside for his love for food and making it. I felt the same with Lily and Henry. I just wanted more of back story on them, to learn about them.

The story was slow paced, in my honest opinion. When the major conflict hit in the story, I was expecting more to happen and found myself disappointed with the resolution.

I really liked the chapters named after foods, and the narrator describing each item being prepped/cooked for each customer. I did find it repetitive at certain times with the narrator, more or less, describing how the customer see the food as its presented to them. I did like how a dish would have a deeper connection to a customer, and a bite would bring that connection back. I thought that was a smart way of making the food a big comfort and big aspect of the story.

Overall, I enjoyed the characters and the food aspect. I just felt it was a little lack lustered and I would have liked more details/backstories on prominent characters.

Thank you BookSiren, Tao Wong, and Starlit Publishing for early access. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )