The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen

By: Yuta Takahashi

Published by Penguin Group, 2026-02-24

Follow the seashell path along Tokyo Bay until you get to the Chibineko Kitchen, where a traditional Japanese meal can summon anyone you choose from your past, but only for as long as it continues to steam . . . —for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Midnight Library, and Studio Ghibli films like Spirited Away. If you could speak one last time to someone you’ve lost, what would you tell them? One sunny morning, the Chibineko Kitchen opens its doors to Nagi, a young woman facing an impossible choice: Should she marry her boyfriend, despite knowing she has only a few years left to live? Desperate for advice from her mother, who died years ago, she hopes that one of the Chibineko Kitchen’s fabled meals will work its magic. Such is the promise that attracts three others to the restaurant: an anxious man rebuilding his life after shutting himself away for years, a lonely widow unaware that she is surrounded by friends, and a theater director hoping to rekindle his career after a tragic accident. In the company of Kai, the Chibineko Kitchen’s chef; Kotoko, who has experienced the miracle of the restaurant and now works there; and Chibi, the resident kitten, each sits down to a meal of uncanny personal meaning that has the potential to reunite them with a departed loved one—and to remind them what matters most in life. Menu Tofu no Misozuke: Miso-marinated tofu Buta Bara no Kara-age: Fried pork belly Iwashi no Kabayaki-don: Soy-glazed sardines on rice Shime no Kare: Curry using leftover hotpot