If you love a light hearted slice of life story and vast japanese cuisine, you would've like this... And there are already the manga adaptation version (if visualization is your taste)

While adorable, I feel awkward reading it. Every chapter so far has been more or less summed up by: "Oh my! My German (ish) tastebuds just cannot handle how amazing and novel Japanese food is! Our food is rubbish by comparison!!!".

I love Japanese food, but some days I just really want some kraut in a sandwich. So it's not for me. Maybe it's for you.

First time writing a review here. But it had to be done.

When I saw the "cooking" and "food" tags on this a while ago I totally discarded it even before reading since I hate many stories about adventure, suddenly become like a cheap cooking novel but oh was I wrong. (Yeah, I had the cooking trauma that made me drop various novels.)

Yes the story is about a pub/bar in a fantasy setting, and that's pretty much it, but theres nothing like "and x and x was added and then... more>> mixing for x amount of time and with the fire at x temperature" and so and so, like a lot of cooking stories. Here the story is progressing nicely, the cooking is not really cooking is more about the food. And I'm really happy how it's more about how is the kingdom (or was it empire?) doing, while listening to the stories of the costumers who are fascinated by the otherworldly food, literally.

Also, for those wondering about where is the bar located

Spoiler

The store is connected to Japan while being in a fantasy world, so the food is good, cheap and novel, and the owner and waitress are like a mistery in many ways to the costumers.

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Honestly I enjoy this story for the food and that’s pretty much it. Like other reviews have mentioned, there’s a certain aspect to it that’s like Japanese food is the best which is kind of expected from these types of novels and there’s definitely no historical research or thought puts into it (might be why the author decided to turn the world into some other half way to fantasy realm instead of proper European Middle Ages or something).

Honestly the characters are pretty bland too, but you’re not reading this for... more>> plot or character development at all in the first place. This is meant to be food p*rn-esque and that’s it. It does it’s job well though so I don’t think it’s particularly good but I wouldn’t call it bad either. Japanese food much like this novel isn’t for everyone and that’s ok. Read if you just wanna hear about Japanese dishes with a side of somewhat isekai but don’t read if you’re looking for anything substantial. <<less

I really wanted to like this but as of chapter 12 Japanese characters are still just like Innkeep NPC and Barmaid NPC scripts in a game.

And the 'European' characters only exist to instantly fall in love with Japanese culture and cuisine.

Imagine a plot where a fully stocked and equipped 21st century french patiserrie opens in Luoyang during Tang dynasty. And everyone goes WOW! Water that flows by itself! Fire that burns by itself! What are these fresh ingredients in winter! What is this marvelous thing called chocolate? This tea is... more>> weird but amazing!

Except, I lied, it is not Luoyang, the author has never heard of it, the city is actually called Old Capital. And it is not Tang dynasty, it is some nebulous period where Confucius is new but everybody braids their hair.

Now, imagine if this Capital City was a total dump with no culture, cuisine, beliefs, religion, architecture, FOREIGNERS, but was some kind of anachronistic stew based on Disney, 1001 nights, and other western works. And the characters only exist to worship European superiority.

And that's basically this novel when I stopped reading.

To like this you really really need to never have read about middle ages, or read works set in middle ages that actually reseached stuff. Ever.

It is over the moment you start thinking about standing armies and potatoes being contemporary with Odin as an actual worshipped god and paper being a novelty, AND a complete lack of a university, guilds, public WELLS, or market in a capital city (with lively troublemaking students, merchants, arists and actors, itinerary monks, street vendors, escaped serfs, and everything that made actual middle ages interesting).

The only interesting part is Japanese food, and for that I might as well read a cookbook.

I kept hoping somebody questions who the Japanese restaurant is paying taxes to, and where they obtained a permit, and how they can be open during a fast, but I was just being petty. <<less

I really like the light-hearted feeling the story gives off. The WN isn't about the bar being from another world, so much as it is about the food served there and the stories of the people eating and having fun within it. Really enjoyable

Does Hans care about his ale or not???

"Another happy thing is that today is payday, so the weight of Hans' wallet is a little reliable. Like that, there's no need to stick by the familiar bar that puts out cheap-selling, sour ale."

Like half a chapter later:

... more>> "Above all, Hans loves drinking ale first before a meal. But, he's fussy in his tastes with this. There've been times when he relented and drank ok ale with his dad and older brother. If a shop puts out awful ale, then even if the food's good, forget about it."

In one chapter, this guy is simultaneously a 1. badly paid soldier that goes to cheap bars for bad ale, 2. a picky cognoscente of good ale that reluctantly drinks 'ok' ale.

Okay, sure, fine, whatever.

Hans hates potatoes he's been having potatoes for most of his life, and oden is, effectively, a stew. Stew is normal food in the Old Capital (ch7). There's no way stewed potatoes are going to be revolutionary to him because of their texture. If it's because the flavour or the seasoning or the cooking techniques are transcendent and novel and delicious to the nth degree, I can buy it. But it's not: he goes "omgg this isn't even a potato!!!" after trying the potato in his oden and then describing it as "warm delicious fluffiness" (you know, like an average potato).

"Pork, mutton, rabbit, beef, horse, and chicken" are the only 6 types of meat available in the Old Capital. However... how are pork and mutton more easily obtainable than chicken?

This is a food p*rn novel, so I'm not expecting a cohesive or good plot, but how am I supposed to believe that the author knows anything about food if they want to convince me that pigs & sheep are easier to raise for meat than chickens? Why does the Old Capital only have tough old eggless hens on the chicken market? What happens to roosters? It'd be less jarring if the novel just used fantasy xxx-legendary-superchickens.

Ch14... do you seriously want me to believe that the seemingly modern Japanese bar owner & barmaid have no idea what a schnitzel is, despite the bar owner being a confident chef that tells other customers that he's sure he can make things that satisfy them? Come on.

「So, what kind of dish is schnitzel?」

「Ah, schnitzel is the so-called pork cutlet (tonkatsu).」

But it's not?! Yes, they're both breaded fried pork cutlet, but the breading/sauces used are different. Schnitzel is typically pan-fried, as opposed to deep-fried katsu, and has a longer history. Are you mental.

Eva's family is very poor and she skimps on meals to let her brothers eat better in this anachronistic Medieval German/European world that lacks running water and (thus far, anyway) seems to be pre-spice-trade, so how can they afford "soft bread" (ch16), when softer bread is made with refined grains which are... you know... normally more expensive?

Anyway, a lot of undiluted idiocy. Aside from the part where the novel smashes my suspension of disbelief in the face, it's okay-ish as food p*rn. The problem is that it's okay, but it's just not enjoyable enough as food p*rn to balance out the fact that the rest of the novel is mind-numbingly s*upid. The plot is a non-issue because it's blatant food p*rn, but it's s*upid in a way that drags the food down. The worldbuilding and characters are done badly enough that I can't enjoy the food p*rn and food business aspects.

I really think the author should've gone for some type of more fantasy-type world instead of a really really really bad version of medieval Europe.

The writing style is kinda terrible; it's really awkward and unwieldy to read, and everything in-between the food descriptions is... bad. The dialogue is bad. The "charming slice of life" style is forced and since the dialogue is bad, it's even more awkward. Even the food descriptions are pretty milquetoast. (I have to hope that it reads better in Japanese, but in English, it reads terribly.)

I think a major problem is that it tries too hard to use "novel new food the Old Capital doesn't have" as the 'wow' factor, but the author isn't actually competent enough to make up semi-plausible Old Capital lore, so it just falls flat. If it focused more on the cooking skills/process/new spices/delicious flavours, it'd be better. Instead, it just sucks. Reading this lowered my IQ. <<less

A beautiful slice of life masterpiece on the isekai genre.

I am up-to-date with the manga and the novel, and for this particular work I believe the manga really brings out the story that we readers can see and be happy reading :)

I can see from the character development the efforts the creator has poured in this work.

A unique, refreshing and happy experience.