Test Kitchen

'Test Kitchen is phenomenal - a mad, magical, ten-course feast of a novel, gorgeously written, totally original, packed with ideas and invention. Incredibly ambitious too - so many characters, so many stories, all of it choreographed so expertly. I have no idea how Neil Stewart did it, even after reading it twice. It deserves to be a massive success. Three Michelin stars' Paul Murray, author of The Bee Sting

'An amazing novel . . . Veering from humorous to horrifying, Test Kitchen shows real insight into the mildly unhinged nature of both high-end restaurants and their diners - with wit, lyricism and a killer turn of phrase' Marina O'Loughlin

'Test Kitchen is like A Visit from the Goon Squad meets The Menu and I'm loving it!' Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller

It's Tuesday night at sleek London restaurant Midgard. In the kitchen, knives race through mise en place; the front of house hums with anticipation: the stage is set for chaos.

The maitre d' is tangled in a conspiracy he can't escape. A young foodie plots revenge. The nervous new sous chef is about to crack. A restaurant critic has her pen poised. A patisserie chef is haunted by an ex-lover who won't let go. And a diner with a terrible wound conceals an even more terrible secret.

Watching from the shadows is Marley, one of the waitresses. As stories collide and truths quickly unravel, she knows something terrible is about to unfold - but she's powerless to stop it.

Gripping and darkly comedic, Test Kitchen explores the twisted world of food, power, and passion - a biting tale of mothers, magic and mortality, served on a silver platter.

Test Kitchen is phenomenal - a mad, magical, ten-course feast of a novel, gorgeously written, totally original, packed with ideas and invention. Incredibly ambitious too - so many characters, so many stories, all of it choreographed so expertly. I have no idea how Neil Stewart did it, even after reading it twice. It deserves to be a massive success. Three Michelin stars -- Paul Murray, author of The Bee Sting
Test Kitchen is like A Visit from the Goon Squad meets The Menu and I'm loving it! -- Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller
Test Kitchen is an amazing novel that hovers somewhere between the fantastical and gritty reality. Veering from humorous to horrifying, it shows real insight into the mildly unhinged nature of both high-end restaurants and their diners - with wit, lyricism and a killer turn of phrase -- Marina O'Loughlin
Test Kitchen vibrates with the tension of a high-end restaurant and the convergence of many seething, heartbreaking, fascinating past lives. But it vibrates with something more ineffable too - something extraordinary, and new. I did not want this book to end. And when it did, I was bereft -- Lara Haworth, author of Monumenta
A gorgeous tasting menu of a novel, a glittering mystery as sharp as a paring knife and as artfully constructed as its fictional restaurant. Like the best fine dining experience, Test Kitchen is beautiful, satisfying and ultimately surprising -- Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls
If you have binged The Bear and want the literary equivalent, we have the book for you ... Stewart's vivid descriptions and sharp prose bring this story to life, with many twists and a dark humorous look at the culture of food, mortality wrapped in a mystery Glamour 'Best Books of July'
Stewart's pitch black humour often takes a delighted lurch into the macabre - he captures the high pressure and utter farce of high-end dining perfectly and his wicked pen sketches of his characters are totally moreish -- Siobhan Murphy The Times
Unfurls with tremendous speed and energy, recreating the tense, thrilling atmosphere of the fine-dining restaurant world with aplomb . . . Stewart's blend of literary prose with the trappings of genre fiction shows a writer with great range. This ingenuity and flair are most noticeable in the depth of the characters' backstories, which are by turns depraved, hilarious and deeply moving -- Sarah Gilmartin Irish Times
Stewart's descriptions are mouth-watering and his storytelling both claustrophobic and expansive. The heat rises gradually to a sizzle - and then a bang Mail on Sunday
TEST KITCHEN offers a necklace of short stories strung on the golden thread of a novel. The book is full of twists that will leave you winded. It is a thriller, a meticulously painted picture of the world of high-end dining, a portrait of different kinds of damage, a deeply felt story of what people begin as and what they become. It is, in short, a wild wild ride. -- Neel Mukherjee
Test Kitchen vibrates with the tension of a high-end restaurant and the convergence of many seething, heartbreaking, fascinating past lives. But it vibrates with something more ineffable too - something extraordinary, and new. I did not want this book to end. And when it did, I was bereft -- Lara Haworth, author of Monumenta

Neil Stewart was born in Glasgow in 1978. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. His first novel The Glasgow Coma Scale (Corsair) was published in 2014. He currently freelances as a proofreader and editorial assistant for galleries and museums, and is Arts Editor of the online magazine Civilian. He lives in London.

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