Thank you to Definitely Books for the review copy!

Read this if you enjoy: 🍜 Contemporary fiction 🍜 Food heritage, Malaysia’s hawkey culture 🍜 Malaysian (specifically Sarawakian) representation 🍜 Father–son relationships & generational conflict 🍜 Quiet, reflective storytelling 🍜 Themes of home, belonging & returning 🍜 Immersive food descriptions that make you hungry 🍜 Nostalgic, comfort reads with emotional depth

📚 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔: I think I chose the perfect time in my life to read Early Mornings at the Laksa Cafe, because I definitely ended up enjoying & loving it way more than I expected to! There’s a specific comfort with the focus on food heritage & familial connections that this story provided me this month and im genuinely so glad that the book lived up (and even surpassed) my expectations 🥺

Early Mornings at the Laksa Cafe follows Lim Ah Hock, an aging laksa chef whose family recipe, said to be blessed by a deity, is losing its magic. His estranged son, Wei Ming, a struggling chef in Hong Kong burdened by debt and personal issues, returns home for his father’s birthday hoping for a fresh start. As tensions resurface and an outsider threatens their restaurant’s future, both men must confront their differences and decide whether to continue preserving their family legacy or forge their own paths from now on.

I loved Janet Tay’s writing style, it was easy to follow through and there’s a tinge of nostalgia in every page that I could really feel as I read along. Personally I don't think i’ve had the chance to try Sarawak laksa yet but after reading this I literally cannot stop craving for it 🥲

The descriptions, especially when it came to the Ah Hock’s preparations techniques along with the love & passion for laksa was so strong in the novel, and it makes me so happy to see how Southeast asian cuisine can be portrayed so beautifully in a fiction novel.

I also thought the characterisation was intriguing too, especially for Ah Hock and Wei Ming. Wei Ming definitely got on my nerves several times for all his terrible life decisions and inability to see eye to eye with his family but overall, his imperfections and eventual change of heart was so heartening. As for Ah Hock, I was so worried that something bad was going to happen to him especially during the second half of the book but im beyond thankful that it was nothing major, especially since i grew to appreciate and respect him so much throughout the novel.

Overall, I loved how the book focused so much on Malaysia’s food heritage (primarily laksa though other dishes were featured as well) and the importance of preserving & safeguarding one’s traditional legacies in today’s evolving times. Personally I wouldn’t even classify this as cosy fiction (not the biggest fan of the genre tbh) because to me, the focus on familial connections, heritage and culture made it so much more touching & meaningful to me. If you ever get a chance to read this or you find yourself in the perfect mood for it, I highly recommend it! 🍜