This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is:

Books that Make Me Hungry

Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa

I loved this moving book by Japanese author Sukegawa. And a big part of this book is dorayaki, a Japanese snack of two small pancakes with red bean sandwiched between. It made me crave dorayaki so much that I decided to make it myself for the first time – we usually buy the commercially made version in the Asian supermarkets, and you can find these freshly made when in Singapore.

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

Now if you are familiar with Guillory’s books, you may have realised that her characters tend to eat quite a lot of comfort foods. Cake features a lot in Party of Two. And I know pizzas and burgers and fries turn up in all of the books. But it was when I was reading Royal Holiday, which is set in the UK, that I had this desire to actually make scones. I LOVE scones and unfortunately, I have had too many (even in fancy hotels) which fall far from my high expectations and are just not the buttery goodness I am looking for. My favourite recipe is from The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Bernanbaum. The extra steps she takes, requiring letter folds, create these layers of goodness!

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks

This book is set at a pumpkin patch and that means all kinds of pumpkin patch treats like s’mores and pies, although I don’t know about succotash – I’ve never had it and it doesn’t seem particularly exciting to eat.

Shinya Shokudo or Midnight Diner – Yaro Abe

I love this manga – and the live-action TV series that’s available on Netflix. Its setting is an eatery that opens only after midnight, and actually only has one item on its menu. But customers can make requests, and they are sometimes as simple as butter rice (with some soy sauce drizzled on top – delicious – of course I had to try that!).

In the Kitchen with Alain Passard by Christophe Blain (translated from the French)

Blain trailed chef Alain Passard (of L’Aperge) for three years to make this graphic novel. Passard is famous for having removed meat from his restaurant to focus only on vegetables – at the time, the first Michelin three-star restaurant in France to do so. Love the illustrations.

Cook Korean: A Comic Book with Recipes – Robin Ha

I read this a few years ago but I remember this was a fun read! Also, it would be a great introduction to Korean food, if you’re unfamiliar with it.

The Fourth Star: Dispatches from Inside Daniel Boulud’s Celebrated New York Restaurant – Leslie Brenner (my review)

A fun read about the behind the scenes of a famous restaurant. Also lots of delicious food descriptions!

Garlic and Sapphires – Ruth Reichl (and really, all of Reichl’s books)

Reichl was the NY Times’ food critic, then editor of Gourmet, so expect lots of brilliant food writing and fun tales about being a food critic. I read this one over ten years ago, but now I kinda feel like rereading it!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018.