Review: Kawaii Cafe Ramen

Title: Kawaii Cafe Ramen: Classic, Fun, and Delicious Ramen Meals to Make at Home
Series: Stand Alone
Author: Amy Kimoto-Kahn
Illustrator: Amy Kimoto-Kahn
Publish Date: January 14, 2025
Publisher: Rock Point
Genre: Cookbook
Age: All
Started Reading: January 2, 2025
Finished Reading: January 6, 2025
NetGalley?: Yes

Book Summary from Goodreads:

Satisfy your ramen cravings at home (and affordably)!  Kawaii Café  Ramen includes over 60 easy-to-follow recipes, beautifully illustrated in a fun anime style.

Kawaii Café Ramen covers everything you need to know, including how to put together a bowl of piping hot ramen in a myriad of ways with a choice of four soup bases, ramen noodles (homemade or store-bought), and traditional and non-traditional ingredients. Enjoy bowls of pork, chicken, and beef ramen, or branch out with seafood, vegetarian, and spicy soups—and even cold ramen and a breakfast version topped with bacon and a poached egg. Make your soup base in advance and you have a quick, easy, and special midweek family meal.

Each accompanied by exciting anime-style illustrations, the recipes

Indonesian Pork Ramen with Coconut Curry SoupChicken Meatball RamenTeriyaki Beef–Wrapped Asparagus RamenCalifornia Ramen with Crabmeat, Avocado, and CucumberSpicy Tofu RamenCrispy Greens Ramen with Swiss Chard, Kale, and Brussels Sprouts
With yummy recipes, down-to-earth writing, and a delightful design, Kawaii Café Ramen is the ultimate guide to this global phenomenon.

My Two Cents:

Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars (I really liked it)

I'm going to start this off by saying, I love ramen! I've been a huge fan of it since the early 2000's when I'd first moved out and had a little restaurant that made 'real' ramen just down the street. Then I got Celiac Disease and sadly went about with whatever I could make at home by myself with various rice noodles, but it was never the same. This book has upped my game! While I'm still stuck with the rice noodles, now I can bring the good soup bases and toppings home and have something much closer to the real deal! The recipes are clear and the language used around everything is optimistic and very encouraging. The shining star of this book, I think, is the section on side dishes. This is what elevates this book from being a one trick pony to a fantastic resource. The illustrations are very cute, but I would have liked to see a couple of pictures to show what to expect of the actual finished product. I will be using this book a lot in the future. I read this digital advanced copy through NetGalley.

To Sum Up: Lots of really great, easy to follow recipes, could use a real photo or two for the finished products.