Test Kitchen

<p><b>''<i>Test Kitchen</i> 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 <i>The Bee Sting</i></b><br><br><b>''An amazing novel . . . Veering from humorous to horrifying, <i>Test Kitchen</i> 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 </b><b>O''Loughlin</b><br><br><b>''A gorgeous tasting menu of a novel, a glittering mystery as sharp as a paring knife and as artfully constructed as its fictional restaurant'' Lauren Beukes, author of <i>The Shining Girls</i><br></b><br>Welcome to a Tuesday night at London restaurant Midgard. The kitchen is buzzing. The tables are set. And the staff and guests take their place.<br><br>...The maître d'' caught up in a conspiracy...<br>...The precocious young foodie with an axe to grind...<br>...The nervous new sous chef...<br>...The anonymous influential food critic...<br>...The patisserie chef stalked by her ex-lover...<br>...The wayward son of a dangerous family...<br>...The enigmatic head chef with the past she won''t discuss...<br>...The lone diner with the terrible wound to his face...<br><br>Watching everything from her hidden vantage is Marley, the restaurant''s newest waitress. She alone knows bad things are about to unfold - but she is powerless to intervene.<br><br>Tonight, everyone has a story. Is it too late to change how this one ends?<br><br>Tense and moreish, <i>Test Kitchen</i> is a darkly funny and often macabre story about the culture of food, of dining and eating, about feeding and nourishing, about mothers, mortality and magic.</p>