This is purely a placeholder review (and a meaningless score) until someone finds the time to write a more comprehensive review in the future, as I hate leaving interesting manga with such an unattractive overview on this site; this will not contain any spoilers, even minor ones. Given its on-going state, this will just be a quick heads-up and not a constructive critique.

First of all, Kumika no Mikaku is not a food manga, far from it, as it doesn't display any mouth-watering or overly original dishes, but only uses it as a starting point for the story and helps build a backdrop for the titular character. As such, do not expect the very boring one dish per chapter trope that you've probably seen in other manga/anime (Amaama to Inazuma comes to mind), which massively hinders the flow of the story; and no shounen-esque eating/cooking scenes either. Also, even though we have some cute humanoid aliens, this is no MonMusu either, there is absolutely no fanservice involved.

What you are in for, though, is a comfortable and interesting Slice of Life with progression (as of chapter 16), and an appropriate amount of character development. The characters are all of working age (around 22 years old), which, along with the sci-fi twist, helps bring an overall fresh feeling to an otherwise trope-ridden genre: you won't have to suffer through thousands of pages of the same copy pasted school backgrounds, as each chapter brings something new to the table. The main character is no isekai protagonist either, being believable and just the slightest bit quirky (did I mention she has two tentacles on her head?), as she discovers what life in Japan is like without wandering in the very overdone innocent/pure maiden/raised in seclusion territory.

Visually, the art is very reminiscent of josei, with a simplistic yet expressive drawing that doesn't look incredible but does its job quite well. The author strikes a good balance here as the characters do not look bland without making stupid over-the-top faces every single panel. There are some good touches here and there (oh my god she uses those tentacles as hands all the time?), for example with the clothes being detailed and varied, that help with the very natural setting the author is going for.

Overall, Kumika no Mikaku looks very promising, as long as it keeps following the very sane objectives it has set out to achieve: make something that feels different and yet not farfetched and that you can easily enjoy without being cheap.

Final note: enjoyable slice of life with progression avoiding overly reused garbage settings, tropes and characters.