Some manga are hard to describe accurately in one sentence. Well, Restaurant to Another World isn’t one of them. Individuals from random worlds visit a restaurant and fangirl/fanboy over the food. So far in the first few chapters, that’s the whole manga — nothing more, nothing less.
So if you’ve been in looking for a manga featuring a dragon queen writhing in pleasure about beef stew, you can stop your search!
I know I’ve mentioned I’m not a huge fan of the isekai genre, but I’m even a less of a food fan. I mean, I like to eat, but my cuisine is pretty much limited to fast food and pizza. The stuff the patrons eat at Western Restaurant Nekoya aren’t high class fare by any means — omelets, stew, cutlets — but all the commentary on flavors combining is just lost on me. I just tune out as if these descriptions were medical textbooks. I’ve skipped over technical or long-winded descriptions in other manga (like all the rules of go in Hikaru no Go), but there really isn’t anything left if you take away a waitress analyzing onigiri. And unlike some other food manga, the actual making of the food is not shown, so Restaurant to Another World won’t help those of us whose cooking skills stop at microwaving a frozen dinner.
It’s too bad, as I like what we’ve seen of the characters. The owner is an easygoing, jolly guy who puts his full effort into cooking, and he doesn’t tolerate any disagreements or prejudices found in other worlds. Many manga have middle-age men being snarky, chain-smoking guys who tend to be lazy or lackadaisical. This isn’t one of them. There’s also something strangely heartwarming about a giant dragon who wants privacy to enjoy her favorite meal (but doesn’t mind showing up in human form naked) or a struggling girl who delights in onigiri.
Restaurant to Another World is very episodic. We meet the guest of the day (or, in one case, return to a previous guest), follow along as they explain their love for what they’re eating, and get a brief glimpse of the star of the next chapter. Even the owner of Nekoya doesn’t understand how the magical doors work, but neither he nor the guests are overly concerned about it. There’s food to be eaten, who cares about other worlds!
Speaking of other worlds, I could guess by the list of creators that this was based on a light novel. What I was confused about was whether this was a direct adaptation or a sequel. The manga kept referring to the previous owners, and there were a lot of rushed explanations that felt like details included only for those who haven’t read the original Restaurant to Another World. The way the background material is presented doesn’t give the manga a feel like it is its own identity. The mostly independent chapters also made me wonder if all that information is really necessary. We see some of the other worlds as characters stumble into Nekoya, but considering we don’t even get the owner’s name, is it really important to know all about the history between humans and demons? Explaining about the characters’ histories is one thing; overloading is another.
But while I was tuning out much of the dialogue, I did enjoy viewing the art. The food, of course, is presented in painstaking detail, but everything else is just as sharp. So far the customers tend to be big-busted females, pleasing the usual harem-loving crowd. Speaking of crowds, when we see the restaurant packed, the patrons include a fun mix of beasts, humans, old, and young. The chapters themselves though are mostly shown through the guest-of-the-day’s point-of-view with little attention paid to anyone else, so the panels aren’t as busy as you might expect of a manga set in a popular restaurant. The characters also seem to be from traditional medieval, mythical fantasy lands, so I wonder if the manga will show sci-fi or futuristic characters in the future to add a little visual spice.
Restaurant to Another World may have a unique setup compared to all the other food manga out there thanks to its fantasy elements, but it also has less of an overall storyline. If you just want to see young women driven to the brink of pleasure thanks to a meal, however, then Restaurant to Another World is for you.