this was a nice story w/ interesting characters who recover physically and emotionally thru healing, healthy, mouth-watering food.

the food in this book is unlike anything ive ever read or seen before, and it's a delight and comfort. charles and his fellow drag queens are a riot: wise, boisterous, familial, and fiercely protective. the lil community formed w/ regulars at the resto are a cocoon of safe space as well.

while the book has its strengths, i find some of the episodic characters dull. while their life + career struggles are nuanced and some painfully relatable, the resolution of many of the conflicts are anticlimactic, w/ some feeling like a cop out. i also wish the furūchi explains more abt the drag queens, as many of her local readers are def not familiar w/ them in a non-stereotypical way. some of them keep insisting that they arent transwomen (which is def true) but the author should explain a bit more for the unfamiliar readers. i also cant help feeling like a few parts were a bit offensive for their insensitive depiction.

even so, this is a nice, healing book w/ food and drag queens as the centerpiece; if only there was more meat to the actual story.