Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Four friends move to a new flat together, two of them have new jobs, one is attending college and Ben Cook the protagonist has a bunch of interviews lined up so that he can start off a career in writing. Written by Jarrett Melendez and illustrated by Danica Brine, ‘Chef’s Kiss’ engagingly captures the difficulties of finding one’s feet in the working world with a dash of romance.
I loved how the creators start off this cute graphic novel with the frustrations of job-hunting and the crippling effect of rejections. Ben Cook is a 22-year-old literature grad who reads obsessively and hopes to find employment in a relevant field. But nobody is interested in hiring a fresher without any experience. Reminds you of the countless memes and videos on the crazy conundrum of how freshers are expected to have professional experience to get jobs, but to gather that experience you need to get a job. Lol.
Anyway, the plot is pretty fun – Ben finds it hard to get a job and things come to point where he is ready to just take up anything as long as it saves him the embarrassment of moving back to his parent’s place. So, when he finds a sign at a restaurant that reads ‘NOW HIRING. APPLY WITHIN. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY’, he pounces on the opportunity and meet the friendly, handsome sous chef Liam. Ben is hired on a trial basis and must pass a series of cooking challenges set forth by the strict owner of the restaurant to become a permanent employee. Food is obviously a big theme, and there are plenty of pages filled with ingredients and cooking that might make some readers hungry.
The illustrations by Danica Brine are fantastic and are made livelier by Hank Jones’ colouring. While traditional black-and-white graphic novels have their own charm, colourful comics like ‘Chef’s Kiss’ are just a lot more entertaining and visually pleasing to the eye. I finished the book in one sitting, so it’s definitely binge-worthy for those who instantly take a shine to the artwork.
Ben is probably the most well thought out character in ‘Chef’s Kiss’, the others are just support cast that don’t leave a lasting impression. In fact, after Ben, my favourite character was Watson – the head chef’s pet pig – who has a hilarious role to himself. The story does get a tad bit dramatic and cliched in the second half, but otherwise it’s a quick breezy fun read.
It’s a 4/5 from me. The e-book is available to borrow on Kindle Unlimited.
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