Star Chef 2 review 2023: If you’re looking for a free cooking/restaurant game, this piece is for you. Yes, it’s completely free and in my experience you aren’t forced to spend money. Almost everything refills automatically and without a very long wait-period.
The game seems to have multiple mini games within itself. Of course, this review aims to discuss all of that, and more.
Let’s not waste time with pleasantries and get started?
What is Star Chef 2?
As the name probably hints, Star Chef 2 is a game that revolves around a “chef”. Yes, that chef is you.
At its surface, it’s a restaurant game. You start with a small restaurant and your goal is to expand it, make more money, gain levels etc.
However, as you progress, the game becomes so much more than just a restaurant game. You unlock magic, build buildings, improve décor, import ingredients and so on. All of this obviously is to help you expand your restaurant.
Technically speaking, it’s a restaurant + farming + base building game. Yes, all of those elements are crucial to the game.
Let’s get you a closer look then?
The game UI
Here’s what the game looks like when you first launch it:
Yes, it has that fantasy-world look that calms me down as soon as I see it.
At the extreme top-left is your profile icon. Then there’s the game-area, primary-screen or whatever you call it. This is where you play the game.
On the top-right, there are three primary options.
- The first (golden C) icon are your “coins”. You’ll need these to upgrade and buy various things. You get these for free by serving customers in your restaurant, completing daily tasks, selling items or playing the game in many different ways.
- See that “green cash” bundle? This too is an in-game currency and is harder to get than the “coins”. The cash too can be used for upgrades, speeding up a cook or other similar benefits.
- The “shopping basket” you see is your shopping capability. It’s basically like free money. You can purchase items from the supermarket equivalent to your shopping capability for free. The basket auto-refills for free.
You’ll also notice a “message-like” icon on the right. This would basically take you to the FAQ and help section.
Below that obviously is the “settings” button. It lets you control the basic customization of the game:
- You can turn the music on/off or change the language of the game.
- It also lets you connect your Facebook if you wish to.
- Notifications
- It also has the contact option
- And finally an “about us” button which I’m sure most of you won’t ever use.
Just below the “settings” button is the “Star chest”. It’s a chest that auto-refills over time. Once it’s full, you can collect it.
When you collect the chest, you’d generally get free coins, shopping capability, tools or other benefits. This is 100% free.
In a nutshell, I’d say the UI is extremely easy to use and understand. Don’t you agree?
The primary buildings/workstations in the game
This being a restaurant game, there obviously are a few primary buildings you can interact with.
Let’s see what star Chef 2 has built for us?
As soon as you start, you’d see this:
- These are the dining tables. This is where you serve your customers.
- This is the soup station. It’s where soup is cooked (obviously).
- Finally, this is the storage. It’s where your dishes and ingredients are stored.
Then there’s the “chef store”. This is a marketplace where other players buy items you’ve put up for sale.
This building accepts everything including dishes, crops, tools etc. You set the prices for each item which is one of my favorite in-game features.
There’s also a “Chef Academy”. This is where you can train your chefs which grants them buffs and makes them better.
You’ll also see a VIP structure, shaped like a V.
This building shows your VIP level. Your VIP level is based on how much of real-money you’ve spent in the game. The VIP level upgrades whenever you purchase coins or cash. This is completely optional.
You’d also see a “Chef Masters” building. This is basically the co-op section which lets you compete with other players in the game.
Every 20-minute in the game, there’s also a food truck you can interact with. It’s another source that you can buy items/products from. This food truck however isn’t exclusive to you. Meaning, other players have access to the same truck. Hence, you must purchase what you require, fast!
There’s another building called Kekoa’s Adventure. It offers you timed event that offers you tasks and rewards for completing those tasks. In simpler words, you progress faster if you participate and complete in the Adventure.
Around the river, you can also spot the dock. Once unlocked, it lets you import high-end ingredients that help you create magic (in the cooking lab).
The “Drive In” is exactly what it sounds like, an additional place for you to serve your customers.
There’s an additional building called the “Celebrity Manor”. This is where you serve special guests, celebrities, critics. These activities earn you special rewards, bonuses and help you progress faster.
Whoever said “cooking is a science” was right. Star chef 2 does have a “cooking lab”.
This is where the magic happens, literally! It lets you use magic to boost your gameplay via speed ups, bonuses etc.
There’s also a “Joe’s Delivery”. This building/shop basically lets you hire “Joe”, who delivers items to you. In other words, it’s like a takeaway service that lets you order various items. Do note that there’s a cool-down period after each use (he gets tired) and hence it’s not your magic wand.
They recently added this “Foodland” expansion. It basically lets you experiment with food and earn “recipe cards”. These cards can be used to install food zones and improve them.
Finally, there’s the “Super Market”. As you’ve probably guessed by now, it’s where you buy ingredients for your restaurant.
You can also tap on the “spinning wheel” to get a random bonus.
That’s all (or most of the buildings/interaction-enabled elements) available to you when you start the game.
As you progress, you buy more equipments and unlock additional buildings which offer additional features.
If you ask me, I’d say there’s a ton of things to do and interact with. Don’t you agree?
Primary game mechanics
As already mentioned, you start with a small restaurant area.
You can see a number of employees (NPCs) moving about and engaging in various tasks. Direct interaction with them isn’t required. They mostly are present to offer immersion and realism to the game.
Remember those dining tables at the center? That’s where you start off. You’d see customers coming in and sitting at one of those tables.
If you tap on them, their food requests would be shown:
You can also click on the “Restaurant Orders” notice board (left of your dish storage). This too brings up all the current food requests in your restaurant.
This comes in handy when your restaurant grows and it’s impractical to click on each customer manually.
Got all the food requirements? You then need to utilize the “Soup kitchen” which cooks the required food.
Once done, you click on the dining table that requested it, slide the food on the table and done. An animation shows one of the NPCs bringing the food out from the dish storage and putting it down on the table.
Expansions and customizations
The game obviously supports expansions. You do start with a small area, however, you can build a vast empire over time.
Here’s what one of the top players in the game has built (yes, you can visit other players and their restaurants).
So, expansions unlock at level 7. You start by buying plots of land. Once you’ve got the land, you can buy the tables, floor tiles and décor for the area.
Backyard
Backyard is another one of the expansion options. However, it deserves its own section for various reasons.
It’s like a mini-game on its own. This is where you plant crops for your restaurant. You can harvest the fruits/crops but also need to maintain them by not letting them die.
There are additional buildings/assets you can place in the backyard for better maintenance of the backyard.
Daily Tasks
Alike most other games, Star Chef 2 too has “daily tasks”. Completing these rewards you additional bonuses. These bonus are generally “coins” however may vary as the game updates.
The tasks do not require any special steps from you. These are your everyday activities such as serving a specific dish once, buying something X no. of times from the supermarket etc.
Each character in your restaurant has his/her own tasks. Again, when you complete a task these are automatically assigned to the right character.
Customizable notifications
You can choose which tasks should or shouldn’t send you notifications.
The available choices include:
- Recipe cooked
- Backyard
- Construction complete
- Team Tournament
- Catering
- Joe’s delivery
- And nearly half a dozen other in-game events!
This makes sure the game doesn’t take away time from your schedule and yet the most important events aren’t missed.
Optional purchases
The game is 100% free. However, you certainly can purchase coins and cash to speed things up. You can then use these coins and cash to purchase various assets/boosters and other in-game items.
There are 6 packages for each in-game currency that you can purchase. If it’s your first purchase, you get a massive bonus (20%-50% additional coins/cash).
Do note that it’s possible to play the game without ever spending a single dollar on it. The purchase is completely optional.
Social features
I’m a sucker for co-ops. While Star Chef 2 isn’t exactly COD:MW, it’s still a co-op in some ways. As already mentioned in this Start Chef 2 review, you obviously can visit other players and offer/receive help.
However, you can also add them as friends. Adding friends has its own benefits. Primarily, friends can help you revive your dead backyard plants for free. You can also help or receive help from friends for fulfilling orders.
Friends can also send each other daily gifts which help all the involved parties equally.
Available both on Android and iOS devices
StarChef 2 can be played on both the leading mobile operating systems, for free. You can download the game here:
- Android: Download link
- iOS: Download link
Star chef 2 review: Final words
So, in my opinion, is Star Chef 2 a good game? Certainly. Not just good, it has al the ingredients to be one of the best games in the genre.
This review, despite all my efforts, could only cover a fraction of all the features/elements of the game. There’s a lot more such as dish mastery, dance floors and so on.
I really loved the “no cash grab” mindset the developers seem to have. They do not force you to spend money. In fact, you can truly hit the leaderboards without ever spending a single dollar in-game.
Point being, if you’re looking for a cooking cum farming game, Star Chef 2 is for you. Hey, why take my word for it? Go download it and spend some time in the world? It’s 100% free, forever and that would give you a better idea, wouldn’t it?