Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! 1

I love a good food manga, so I went in expecting the focus of the series to be cooking techniques, ingredients, and dishes. And while all of those are definitely here, the core of this story is the romance between Melphiera and Galbraith. The cuisine acts more as a backdrop while we see two people that society considers strange, bond over their shared enthusiasm. It's cute, and somewhat quickly-paced, with very little friction or drama (so far). The world building is fairly light, but it uses easy to recognize building blocks, so following along should be no problem. The designs have the same flavor (ha)! as a lot of modern "I got reincarnated as a villainess" type stories popular in manga and mobile comics, and the whole thing is very very pretty to look at. If you're looking for manga the focuses mainly on the food, there are probably other options you'd want to try first. But if you want that as a side to a big helping of cute romance, dig in!

Thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for a review copy. All thoughts in this review are my own!