Chef City Walkthrough

Chef City is a social restaurant simulation developed by PlayMesh for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Build the restaurant of your dreams in this fun, multi faceted game. Learn action packed cooking skills in the Academy and unlock recipes to serve in your restaurant. Design your restaurant, add musicians, and a classically trained top chef and you will build up the hype keeping the customers flooding in. Gamezebo’s Chef City quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, information, and tips on how to play your best game.

Chef City – Game Introduction

Quick Start Guide

Getting Started

Chef City s a free app and can be downloaded by clicking on the “Play Now” button at the top of this page.
Once you have the game downloaded tap on the icon to load it and you will first be asked if you want to be sent push notifications via your Mobile device. It is highly recommended if you do not check into your games frequently, but if you don’t want them this feature can be changed any time in the settings area.
First you will be taken through a brief introduction and tutorial of the game. Tap on the areas highlighted in yellow with red areas when you are finished reading.
Game Currency – The game has two types of currency. The basic game currency is gold coins and the secondary currency known as “Chef Cash” allows you to purchase higher end items which earn you more money.
Some of the things you can do with Chef Cash include purchasing additional gold coins, boosts that allow your dishes to cook instantly, purchase recipes to unlock instantly, and you can revive spoiled dishes.
Note that you can purchase additional Chef Cash by tapping on the Chef cash indicator at the top of the screen. You can purchase one of three bundles of Chef cash ranging from $4.99 USD to 99.99 USD. This purchase is considered an “in app” purchase and will be billed to your iTunes account. You can only purchase additional gold coins with Chef Cash by tapping on the gold coin indicator at the top left of the screen.
Level and Experience Points – At the top center of the screen you will find an XP (Experience Point) and a level indicator. Each time you purchase a decor item, learn a new recipe, complete quests, etc. you will earn XP which allow you to level up in the game. Tap on this meter at any time and a menu will appear telling you how many XP you currently have and how many you need to reach the next level.

Hype Meter – The smiley face at the top center indicates the amount of hype your restaurant has generated with your customers. This will start out red and eventually as you have more items on the menu, better decor and a larger restaurant you will see this change to yellow, orange, and then green. Tap on the smiley face to see your hype meter. The components that are critical to raising hype are “Food, Service, and Ambiance” which is listed at the bottom of your hype meter. The higher your hype is the more customers that will walk into your restaurant.

Game Settings – There is a gear icon at the top left of the game screen. Tap on it to reveal your settings menu. Here you can toggle the game music or sound effects on or off, replay the tutorial or turn it off, and change your restaurant or user name.
Naming your Restaurant/Avatar – Tap on the top right area of the game screen where you will see the word “Player” along with a long number. This will bring up the menu to change your alias and restaurant name. Once changed it will appear in the upper right corner instead of your player number ID. You an tap here any time to change these settings free of charge.
Navigation – Use your fingertip to drag the restaurant around the scene until it is where you want it. Double tap quickly to zoom in and out of the scene and tap on buttons to activate them. When you purchase items drag them with your finger until they are placed correctly and tap on the green button to confirm or the red button to deny placement. If you wish to move items, sell them or place them in inventory see “Moving/Storing/Selling items in your Restaurant” below.

Basic Game Elements

You will begin with a small restaurant with three tables, yourself as chef, and one waitress, two stoves and a small amount of cash to get started. After you complete the tutorial you will have one decor item in your restaurant and will have completed one dish, expanded your restaurant once, and will have added your first friend to the game which is a computer generated friend.

Access Game Menus – There is a small white button at the bottom left of the screen that says the word “Main” on it which when tapped on causes the basic game controls menu to rise up. Once you tap you will see there are several categories of which when tapped on will allow you to see the menu for that category and you should be able to navigate around the screen to do whatever you need. Tap on the green “Okay” button to close the menu.

Design Menu – At the bottom right corner there is another button with a hammer that says “Design” on it. Tap here to access the design menu in your game. This also causes a menu to rise and this one has tabs along the top because it is broken down into several categories which when tapped on will reveal a menu that will l allow you to do such things as hire musicians, purchase decor items, purchase additional stoves, tables and chairs, and change the color or patterns of your walls and floor.
Note that along the bottom of each item the cost is listed in either Chef Cash or coins. Tap on the blue and white arrow to scroll through items as there are many more than what are shown and tap on the green “Okay” button to close the menu.
Tip – Decorating your restaurant is the best way to increase your hype level

Learning Recipes, Preparing and serving them to your Customers

Preparing food is the first basic you must master in the game.
1. You will see a red cookbook icon over each of your two stoves. Tap on one of the red icons when you are ready to learn or prepare food.
2. Next you will see the cookbook menu appear. There are seven cookbooks to choose from ranging from basic to Gourmet. You must begin with the basic cookbook and unlock all recipes in it before you can move on to the next cookbook unless you are willing to purchase the recipe for City Cash which unlocks it instantly. This can be very expensive so it is best to start out playing through the basic and once you have that completed it’s up to you if you ever want to purchase recipes with Chef Cash.

3. Tap on the “Cheeseburger Cook for fifteen coins” button and you will open the menu shown in the second image above. Here you have a detailed account of what this food item will cost and earn you as well as how long it will take to prepare. Tap on the “Cook” button when you are ready to begin.
Cooking Skills – The tiny icons you sometimes see next to recipes are the skills you need to master before you an unlock those recipes. These skills are learned in the Academy and you can read more about them below. (See – “Academy – Mastering Cooking Skills below)

4. Cooking Time – Now you will be taken back to your restaurant while your food cooks. The cheeseburger takes five minutes. You an tap on the stove at any time to see how much time is left or if you tap on “Manage” you can cancel the order by throwing it in the trash and you will lose your initial investment or you can use Chef Cash to speed up the prep time. Note that at the bottom of the stove there is a meter filling up as the food cooks. This is another quick way to keep your eye on the cooking times.
Mastery – Note when you first begin the game at the bottom there is a gold star with the number “0” in it and it says “0/5” in the center of the meter. This is very important as you must make five cheeseburgers to master this recipe. Once it is mastered this will change to “0/20” and you will see a number “1” in the star showing the first level of mastery is complete. When you master a recipe you increase the level of servings it produces for you when you cook it. Each time the meter fills up you will increase the mastery level and the number of servings you get when you purchase it to cook in your restaurant.

Serving Food – When your food is ready you will see a blue icon of a dish cover. Tap on this and your chef or waitress will bring it over to a table to be served.
You do not have to clean your ovens after use as the red icon appears again so you can cook another meal.

Collecting Profits – Once your customer is finished eating he or she will get up and the waitress will instantly clean the table leaving it ready for the next customer. As a fed customer leaves a smiley face representing their level of hype is over their head. You hope to see yellow smiley faces as customers walk out of your restaurant.
If a customer walks in and there are not enough tables they will leave with an angry red face and you will lose some hype so make sure you have enough places to sit and that they can reach those places easily.

Spoiled Food

When you start to cook a food it has a specified amount of time to cook. Once it is ready you have that same exact amount of time to serve it. For example the Cheeseburger takes five minutes to prepare. Once it is ready if you do not tap on it to serve it within five minutes the food will spoil.
Reviving Spoiled Food – You have the option to either trash the food losing all of your initial investment or you can use Chef Cash to purchase an instant revival of food which will give you all the profits you are entitled to.

Academy – Mastering Cooking Skills

A really fun feature to Chef City is the Academy! Here you will learn several cooking skills that will allow you to unlock recipes in your cookbooks. The tiny icons you see next to recipes indicate the cooking skill you need to master to prepare that meal. There can be one or several skills for one recipe.
Once in the academy you will see a menu listing the unlocked skills you are eligible to train in and master. The tabs along the sides show the menu is divided into “Completed”, “Ongoing” and “Locked” skills.
There are several courses that are locked and you must meet the level prerequisite to unlock them.
Once you complete all of the skills in the Academy you will be considered a “Top Chef” and will have access to a large number of recipes to cook in your restaurant.
The skill courses are in mini game fashion and the first one only will be explained in this guide which is “Cracking an Egg”

Energy – The tricky part to all of this is that you expend energy each time you train on a level of a skill.
You are given five energy points out of five maximum when you start at the Academy. As you level up the maximum amount of energy you can have will increase by one per level.
Energy regenerates at a rate of one energy point every hour.
You can also purchase additional energy using Chef Cash at any time.
Each skill will have a certain number of levels to it and some skills must be mastered before others.

To Learn “Crack an Egg” Skill – Tap anywhere on the screen to start the countdown timer.
Shake your mobile device vigorously to crack the egg until you see the two horizontal arrows pointing to the center of the egg.
Place your fingertips on each side of the egg and swipe out to the sides of your device to open the egg.
Another egg will drop down immediately and begin shaking the device again and then swiping the sides open. Do this until you reach the goal.
Once you complete that level you will be asked if you want to return to the Academy or to continue to the next level. “Cracking an Egg” has five levels to complete for mastery and each level increases the number of eggs you will need to crack open in thirty seconds.
Once you complete the skill you are able to use it to help you unlock any recipe requiring it.

Hiring Staff/Customizing Staff Appearance

Bring up the main game menu and tap on “Staff” Here you will see a menu showing how many staff you have. You are given your first waiter free, and an purchase up to four more as you progress. You will have to pay to unlock each new staff member and will not be able to unlock or purchase another one until you have reached the next required level.
IMPORTANT – The first waiter you an purchase is one thousand coins and the other three will cost fifty, seventy five, and one hundred Chef Cash.
Changing the appearance of a Staff member – Tap on the “Customize” button to name your staff and change their gender and appearance.
Tap on the things you wish to purchase and note there is a running total along the right side of the screen. If you make a mistake and tap something you don’t want you will have to tap “reset” unfortunately, this resets everything back to the way it was and you will have to go back and choose all of your customizations again.
Once you have your avatar or staff members looking the way you want tap on “Buy” and you will be taken back to the restaurant.

Decorating your Restaurant

When you are ready to add decor and change the appearance of your restaurant tap on the “Design” button at the bottom right of your screen.
Tap on the category tab and make your choice using your finger to drag it to its new location. A menu will appear to the right of the screen that keeps a running total of all items you have purchased. When you are done shopping tap on “Okay” to lock in the purchase

Placing flooring or Wallpaper – When purchasing these items you will only be purchasing one small area at a time not the entire room! This can get very expensive so be sure your restaurant is well established with at least three stoves before you begin making large purchases.
Decorating your restaurant will be fantastic for your hype meter. It will increase significantly when you place decorations and change the look.

Expanding your Restaurant

Expanding your restaurant causes it to become larger and hold more tables and stoves.
If you have decorated your walls and flooring be sure you have enough funds to purchase the additional ones you will have to purchase to cover the new area.
Expansions are difficult to obtain because there are friend requirements attached to them. You will have to have a minimum of two friends to unlock your first expansion after the tutorial or you have the option to purchase Chef Cash and purchase the expansion without the neighbor requirement.
Each expansion requires you to have five more friends than the previous one and each expansion costs more Chef Cash than the previous one.
Once you expand you will probably need to move items around your restaurant. (See “Moving/Storing/Selling items in your Restaurant”)

Moving/Storing/Selling items in your Restaurant

Moving items already in place/Inventory/Sell items – If you wish to move items tap on the item you wish to move then tap on the design button at the lower right corner once this menu opens you will see a move icon on the item. Drag it to where you want it then lock in the changes by tapping on the green arrow. If you wish to sell an item tap on “Sell” button and confirm. You will not be able to sell an item for what you paid for it, you will only get a fraction of the purchase price.

Congratulations!

You have completed the basic game play guide for Chef City for iPhone and iPod touch by PlayMesh. Be sure to check back often for game updates, Staff and user reviews, user tips, forum comments and much more here at Gamezebo!