I have made two dishes in the book and eaten a third at a friend's. Most recently I made the Massaman curry, which was really good. My only complaint was that in order to braise the chicken with liquid that covers you need a lot of liquid and the dish ends up more like soup. Still very good. The next day I drained off some of the liquid and reduced it for a less soupy curry. Very very good. This is just the kind of dish that leftovers were made for. A great use for dark meat chicken.
I chronicled my experience with the Beef Noodle Soup on the thread Beef Cuts for Soup. Fabulous flavorful stock, but the meat needed more cook time since it wasn't the tenderest cut. Totally worth tweaking.
A friend served the Miso Glazed Eggplant and it was quite nice. Not my favorite way to eat eggplant, but good. He says he makes it frequently, and he also likes the recipe for Oshitashi. He is an enthusiastic reader of LP magazine, which I am not. He just returned from Japan and although he loves this book he used the term "dumbed down" for some of the recipes. I don't agree. I would say there are some short cuts, but they make sense and the results are quality. Plus I think the suggestions up front for pantry staples are well thought out.
I'm not a stranger to Asian food, and have been cooking Viet dishes and various wontons and pot stickers and stir-fry for some time. I also have taken an intensive week-long class in Thai cooking. I see this book as a very useful basic resource. The recipes include lots of classics that you have probably eaten if you eat Asian food out and for the most part they are not tricky and are forgiving if you lack either time or esoteric ingredients. Unique to this book is that the range of recipes covers a wide swath of Asian foods, which is different than most specialized Asian cookbooks. The LP cuteness self-congratulatory factor is just short of annoying, but to make up for it the authors do seem genuinely friendly.
I'm happy that there is a thread dedicated to this book and will continue to post in it as I work through the recipes. Don't expect a systematic Chris Hennes treatment! Right now I'm having a love affair with potato kugel.