Short Order Chef

Short Order Chef is a time-management cooking game set in a small, busy diner. Customers sit down with an order ticket, and you chop, cook, plate and serve each dish before their patience runs out. Play this cooking game online free in your browser, with no download or sign-up, using a mouse, a keyboard or a phone’s touch screen. Ten days of service add new dishes, new stations and bigger crowds.

How to play

Up to three customers sit at the tables at the top. Each one shows the dish they want, small icons for every part of it and a patience bar that shrinks while they wait. When the tables are full, new guests wait at the door until a seat opens.

• Pick up an ingredient: tap anything in the pantry to hold it. You have one pair of hands, so the hand box shows what you are carrying. Tap the same ingredient again to put it back.
• Chop: lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and potatoes go on a chopping board. Tap the board four times to chop, then tap it again to pick up the result.
• Cook: patties go on the grill, batter on the griddle, pasta and chopped carrots in a pot, and potato sticks in the fryer. Each station has a timer bar. While the food is undercooked you can’t take it off. Once the bar passes the middle mark it is done, and the station turns green. Leave it much longer and it burns, so take it off before the warning flashes run out.
• Plate: tap a plate to add the food in your hand. Buns, cheese, syrup, sauce and bread need no prep and go straight onto a plate.
• Serve: tap a plate to pick it up, then tap the customer who ordered that dish. A table glows when the plate in your hand matches its order. The wrong dish is turned away and stays in your hand.
• Bin: burnt food, spare ingredients and wrong plates go in the bin.

The menu

Day 1 starts with salads (chopped lettuce and sliced tomato) and burgers (bun, cooked patty and chopped lettuce). Pancakes arrive on day 3 with the griddle, cheeseburgers on day 4, and pasta with the pot and a third plate on day 5. Day 6 adds a second chopping board. Carrot soup with bread comes on day 7, and fries with the fryer on day 8. Days 9 and 10 serve the full menu to a faster stream of guests.

Coins, tips and stars

Every dish has a price, from 7 coins for fries to 15 for a cheeseburger. On top of the price, a customer tips up to half of it again, depending on how much patience they had left when you served them. A guest whose patience runs out walks out and pays nothing.

Each day’s goal is based on the value of that day’s orders. Half of the menu value earns one star and unlocks the next day. Earning 85% of it gets two stars, and three stars needs 115%, which you can only reach with good tips. Your unlocked days, the best stars for each day and your best coins are saved in your browser, and the day list shows your total.

Tips for a busy kitchen

• Start the slow things first. Get a patty, pancake or pot of pasta cooking as soon as an order appears, then chop or plate while it cooks.
• Use the timer marks. Food is done once the bar passes the middle mark. You have about as long again before it burns, so you don’t need to hover over it.
• One plate per customer. Build each order on its own plate, and add the instant items like buns and sauce while something else is cooking.
• Serve the most impatient guest first. A red bar means the guest is about to leave. A quick salad can save a star.

FAQ

Is this cooking game free?

Yes. Short Order Chef is free to play in your browser with no account and no download. Any unlocked day can be replayed to chase three stars.

Does it work on a phone or tablet?

Yes. Everything is a tap: ingredients, stations, plates and customers. The layout fits narrow phone screens as well as desktop browsers.

Can I play with a keyboard?

Yes. Tab and Enter work on every button. Keys 1, 2 and 3 serve a table, A, S and D pick up or put down a plate, X bins what you are holding, and P or Esc pauses.

What happens if food burns?

Burnt food can’t go on a plate. Pick it up and drop it in the bin, then cook a fresh one. The station is blocked until you clear it.

Want more kitchen action? Build orders and bake to the right doneness in Pizza Shop, or run a whole park in Tycoon Game.