Kamogawa Shokudo (2016)

Watch this for my 2024 Alphabet Challenge. It turned out much better than I expected.

Story about Kamogawa Restaurant, a restaurant in Kyoto that has a special purpose on the side. Customers come from different parts of Japan with one mission in their mind, “Search for food with memories”. Customers who come only relying on a single line advertisement in “Spring & Autumn Cuisine”. Those who come to this restaurant looking for food from their memories and all that memories bear troubles of the seeker.

Every customer who comes will tell their story to Kamogawa Koishi, and after that her father, Nagare uses the instincts and powers of observation honed as a retired detective, to identify what meals customers truly desire and demonstrates his skills by recreating them. Customers who eat the “food with memories”, which are the fruits of the efforts of Koishi and Nagare, will leave Kamogawa Restaurant, finding the answer for their question & trouble…

But except to answer all the customer’s troubles, Koishi and Nagare themselves have problems that need to be answered along the way….

Below I’ll write about each of the dish that was recreated by Kamogawa Restaurant.

1st dish:
Looking for meat and potatoes cooked by late mother. Date Hisahiko looking for the dish cooked by his late mother. After his mother died, Date’s dad remarried to a new woman & also brought a girl along. Date and his step mom are not close, he even feels his step mom treats him and her real daughter differently. But after eating the dish that is recreated by Nagare, he understands how kind his step mother actually is.
The message from this episode: “Try to know the people before you judge them.”

2nd dish:
Tonkatsu. Hirose Suyako looking for a dish for her sick husband. Her husband longs for the Tonkatsu & Suyako wants to give it to him before it’s too late. After the investigation done by Nagare, Suyako finally knows the reason her husband longs for the dish.
The message from this episode: ”A marriage couple bond's that can't be broken by farewell or distance.”

3rd dish:
Spaghetti. A memory with grandpa. Mizuki Asuka looking for a spaghetti dish she ate with her grandpa when she's little. Her grandpa suffers from dementia & other diseases, so she wants to serve a memory dish to her grandpa before his memory & health deteriorates even more. This is the first dish Koishi does the investigation, she learns to be independent & rely more on her instinct & observation.

4th dish:
Nabe from late wife. Kuboyama Hideji looked for nabe used to cook by his late wife. Hideji wants to remarry, but before he does that, he wants to eat nabe that his late wife cooked, then after that he can start a new life living with his new wife. After eating the meal Hideji realized how much effort & love his late wife put into making the dish.

5th dish:
Hamburger vs steak. Takeda Kana, a food blogger, who prefers a steak over all kinds of mixed meat. She so pissed when her son pick burger over steak & want to teach her son how more delicious steak over burger. After the dish was served, Kana learned a lot of things regarding her father.

6th dish:
Beef stew. The one that got away. Nadaya Nobuko once met a boy in her youth, the boy that brought her to the restaurant that served beef stew dishes. They've been in correspondence before, but upon meeting the boy just suddenly proposing to her, that's shaken her & she fled. Now in her old days, she begins to recall everything & one question about what if suddenly shows up in her mind. It's not mean Nobuko is regretting her life, but that ‘what if’ is still lingering in the air.

7th dish:
Noriben. Made by father. Kitano Kyousuke's father can't cook but he still made bento for him everyday. Noriben only consists of Nori, Seaweed & may consist of some other side dish, and in Kyousuke case is umeboshi. Kyousuke always thought his father was a lazy man who wouldn't learn any other dishes. Although it seems simple, after learning about the dish, Kyousuke realized how much effort his father put into the dish.

8th dish:
Fried Rice made by mother. Shirasaki Hatsuko wants to cook her late mother dish for her boyfriend. A simple dish made by a single mother who didn't have too much time, but still thinking about her daughter.

Overall this really one warm drama about every dish from our memories that have special meaning for us.

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Goes well with a cup of tea on those lazy afternoons...

The charm of Kamogawa Shokudo lies in its premise and nostalgia brought on by that one dish the diner cannot forget. A dish infused with memories and that’s how we get the name ‘memento food’ which the restaurant promises to deliver to the diner and the viewers are presented with picturesque scenery as the investigation of the lost recipe goes on.

Story:
Each episode is like a short story and takes us on the journey that the diner has gone through. The hook for this drama would be how engaged the viewer gets to each story. There are some hits and a few misses but the drama retains it’s silent charm in its scenic storytelling and the secretive location of its restaurant.

Acting:
Considering the subject matter is not a serious drama but more of relaxed storytelling, the acting is all right. The proprietor of the restaurant and his daughter (the detective) did a good job of infusing life into otherwise one dimensional characters.

Overall:
A nice addition to the slice of life genre and the beautiful shots of homely food are a great takeaway from this 8-episode drama. I would have loved to see more connected backstories wrt all the regular patrons of the restaurant as well as a more cohesive storyline. Because of the episodic format, I found this drama is not binge-able but goes well with a cup of tea on lazy afternoons.
A 7.5/10 for me!

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