Chaotic Apéritifs -

Chaotic Apéritifs is the second Hidden Dishes novella length fantasy cooking story by Tao Wong. Released 1st May 2024, it's 124 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats.  It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is an entirely setting driven novella which is background and world building for a continuing novella arc/series based in and around a hidden fantasy restaurant in modern day Toronto. The restaurant is the work of one cook (who is more or less immortal) and his waitress, a quirky sarcastic young woman who is currently his only employee. They cook for and serve a plethora of supernatural and mortal customers in the tiny venue.

For foodies who like fantasy, this might fill the bill. There are extensive, admittedly interesting, descriptions of food and cooking. The author *clearly* has done his research and describes the cooking processes minutely and (oddly) fascinatingly.

Reading/listening to the book will probably make readers hungry. Not recommended for late night reading unless one is in a large metropolitan area with 24 hour takeaway eateries conveniently accessible. 

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 3 hours and 28 minutes and is capably narrated by series narrator Emily Woo Zeller. She has a nuanced, neutral accent, and a young voice. She does a good job with the disparate accents (a dwarf, a giant, humans and others) and long, very involved descriptions of cooking and the resultant dishes produced. 

There are a fair number of restaurant based fantasy settings, from Spider Robinson's Callahan series to Travis Baldree's Legends and Lattes, to 2021's buzz book Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune. This one is a *lot* more food intensive and a lot less plot driven than any of those, but it might whet the appetite. It's an indie published story, and according to the author's note in this novella, the eventual arc will contain 3-5 more stories and are intended to be able to be able to be read as standalones in any order..

Four stars. Short and engaging read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.