Rice

Makiko’s food is some of the best I’ve ever had. Delicious. Flavour filled. Inventive. * Stanley Tucci *Rice is one of those everyday staples we all think we know but Makiko Sano reminds us just how extraordinary it can be. In Rice, she gathers 80 approachable, fresh and inviting recipes that carry you from morning to night, with ideas that are both comforting and surprising. The layout is beautiful and practical: vivid colour photographs, step-by-step instructions, and smart tips, including how to cook perfect rice every time. From onigiri at breakfast to sweet mochi at the end of the day, each recipe shows another way rice can shine. I kept reading and thinking, ‘I want to cook this, and this, and this!’ This is a book that brings joy back to something familiar. * Irini Tzortzoglou *

Tokyo-born Makiko Sano owns and runs a popular Japanese restaurant, sushi school and catering company, Suzu House, in Hammersmith, London. She wrote SushiSlim (2013, translated into 16 languages), which won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award, and Shoku-iku: Japanese Conscious Eating for a Long and Healthy Life (2016, translated into 8 languages), and most recently Welbeck’s Ramen (2023) which topped the charts.