A Guide to Island Chef Academy: Being the #1 Chef

You are given charge of a new restaurant to test your skills as a chef. Let's take a look at the screen and go through all the parts of the kitchen.

At the top of the screen you see, from left to right, your waiters for the day, then the status bar [for the current day, total score, current score, and needed score], and the time left for the day as well as if your restaurant is open or has closed for the day.

Near the top of the screen is your counter – this is where your dishes will be placed once your food is done cooking. On the left is an orange shaker – this contains seasoning and should be used on every dish when possible. It adds up to one star to a dish that has less than five, but even if you already have five stars it doubles your points for that dish!

In the middle of the screen, on the left, you see your focus timer – this allows you to temporarily slow down time and keep your dishes from burning on the stove! In the middle are your stoves, and on the right is your oven – all four of these are used to cook your dishes. When orders come in, they will appear on top of the pots and pans and show what ingredients are needed for the dish.

Near the bottom of your screen, there are the ingredients ready to be prepared in their bowls; these ingredients are all native to Mystery Island – the location of the Island Chef Academy. The purple bowl will have Pink Chokato and Flatfruit; the blue bowl will have clam chowder; the yellow bowl will have Melowhirl and Turnla; the green bowl will have seafood; and the pink bowl will have potato chowder. These ingredients will be asked for – in combination with other ingredients in the later levels – in order to create the dishes. Each ingredient can fill a bowl five times; once this is surpassed, you have the option to order ingredients regularly – which takes a bit of time – or by express – which is instant, but costs 20 points (this should rarely be used as it subtracts from your current points – if you're near the end of a level or find that many dishes need this ingredient, then go ahead).

At the bottom of your screen are the controls: Pause, End Game, and at the far right Skip (if you are on the tutorial).

Now that you've familiarized yourself with the layout of the kitchen, let's begin!

The first thing that will happen is that a waiter (later on in your career, more than one) will bring in an order – orders always come in twos. Prepare the two ingredients that you need first, then prepare the rest of them after you put the two ingredients into their respective pot or pan. Always have all the ingredients prepared (unless you're waiting for a delivery) and keep busy – don't just stand there and watch! Make sure that you time it so that the dishes of the same group come out at the same time, so that when you put them on the counter, they don't go cold! However, don't keep them on the stove or in the oven too long because they will overcook and eventually burn, taking precious stars from the dish! If you find that you need to keep the dishes on the stove or in the oven longer – perhaps one dish in a group is done a few seconds before the other one is – then "Focus" to keep the dish[es] from burning or losing points (this is temporary, though, and will only last for a small amount of time).

Later on in your careers, you will have to combine more than one ingredient for a dish – in the first few levels you should focus on getting all the ingredients for one set, then focus on the other two; in the later levels, just quickly put the ingredients in whichever pot or pan needs them until there is one ingredient left per dish, then go by group.

Once the dishes are finished cooking, quickly move them over by group to the dishes on the top counter. Sprinkle them with the seasoning – as mentioned earlier, if they have less than five stars, then the dish will have added to it up to one star; if already at five, then the points double for the dish. But do this all quickly because the waiter will show up soon to deliver the dishes to the impatient customers! Try to do this all the time unless you have very little time left to finish the next dishes.

Once the next group pops up, start on them. In the later levels, you will work on two groups at once with varying amounts of ingredients. As long as you move quickly and focus on one group at a time, racking up points should be no problem!

Sometimes after a level, you get the option for upgrades: "Prepare Faster" and "Focus Longer". Whenever you have the option to do so, select "Prepare Faster" because you will be able to prepare your ingredients a lot more quickly than before and this helps with finishing the dishes faster. Focus should rarely be needed in the game anyways because you, as a pro chef, will make sure that everything in the kitchen runs smoothly and that the dishes come out on time and in perfect condition!

Remember that you need to finish your daily goal before moving on to the next level or else you will get a game over!

With enough practice, your dishes will be flying to your customers with 5-star ratings for all! If you are good enough, you may even get a Bronze, Silver, or Gold trophy, and with these tips, you should be able to graduate from the Island Chef Academy with flying colours. With a quick hand, a sharp mind, and the Underwater Chef as your tutor, one day maybe you too will be able to open up a magnificent restaurant like the Kelp!