Isekai Izakaya “Nobu” is a manga series that is about characters having their minds blown by food. It doesn’t waste any time explaining what this izakaya is doing in a medieval fantasy world, nor does it need to. It knows those kinds of things aren’t really important and would likely detract from the ethereal feeling that gives the series so much of its charm.

I also suspect that it’s for the sake of preserving that feeling that we take a while before we get any real focus on the characters running Nobu. The first few chapters are focused almost exclusively on the customers and their responses to the food, and I think that was a wise choice, as that’s undeniably where the heart of the story is.

One of the standout things about this series, to me, is the way in which this world has been thought out. The author has a very clear idea of what the city and world are like. In this setting, it makes total sense that people would be hesitant to order fish and would be shocked by the use of paper as a disposable item. They’re minor details, but they give the story a little extra flavour, if you’ll excuse the pun. It makes the world feel very lived-in, and the way it’s all integrated and written into the dialogue feels very organic.

Truthfully, I’m a bit of a sucker for manga like this. I’m basically guaranteed to enjoy any story that celebrates food in as pure of a manner as this. That said, you’d be hard-pressed to find another manga that is as single-mindedly focused on celebrating the experience of eating as Isekai Izakaya “Nobu” is, and I think that’s kinda beautiful.

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Another product of isekai genre, which focuses around food. This time, the setting is izakaya, a kind of bar that specialize in cheap snacks that go well with alcoholic beverages. A question, is this manga good enough to spend our time to? To me, yes, absolutely. If you are curious about what kind of story this manga has, please read the summary in the MAL page, "details" tab.

When we first open this manga, we'll be greeted with a sharp, tidy drawings. The background seems too solid and stiff at times, but the character and food drawings are surely a delight to enjoy. If i have to describe the drawings quality overall, the word that come to my mind is "refined".

As we progress the end of chapter 1, we might conclude that "ah, just another isekai manga that introduces food with a story and narrative". Well, that is true, but even with only reading 1 chapter, we will feel that this manga is very heart-warming.

Then as we progress through the chapters, the gems that hiding inside this manga will start to surface. These gems are what i found as primary charms that this manga has to offer. One is called "solid story" and the other is called "connection".

How can a food manga with isekai setting have a solid story? To answer this question, i need to use the second gem that i mentioned. This manga story is solid because it is connected. Imagine we are building a wall, stone by stone. Each stone is connected to other stones. We keep putting a stone beside and on other stone, then before we know it, it has already become a solid wall. This manga story is similar. It is connected hence it's solid.

Then, what connects each stone (story) to others? The answer is the characters. It is a story-driven manga, but the characters hold the key that makes this manga has solid story. The characters are many, but they keep reappearing in latter chapters with strong personality and high consistency to add.

To conclude this review, i highly recommend this manga for quality seekers, but not for generic, isekai lover (tbh, i want quality but also am generic, isekai lover....kinda hard to say this).
This manga has different tone with other generic, isekai stories in way that this manga really holds down the basic and proper of making a story, not only just about desire to escape from reality. In fact, in this manga, we are somehow encouraged to face with our own reality. Thus, i won't recommend to the reader that seek desire and wild imagination.
For quality seekers though, enjoy this meal called Isekai Izakaya Nobu ~

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