Cooking games

Cooking games are so much fun - whether you're managing a restaurant, slaving away in a kitchen, or a mixture of both, these virtual chef games really take the cake when it comes to coffee break entertainment!

And speaking of cakes... cooking games do of course cover a range of dishes and cooking styles. You might be

• baking and frosting cakes
• grilling burgers and frying onions
• mixing smoothies
• topping pizzas
• serving ice cream

- as well as seating customers and juggling their many demands.

The time management factor is important in many of these cooking games. Just as in your own kitchen, you'll be attempting to serve correctly prepared food at the right time, in the right order, with the right toppings, sauces or frosting... and you'll also experience that real-life phenomenon where people just get fed up waiting for your cake to bake and head off to eat somewhere else!

So, speed is often of the essence, but practice makes perfect too, and it won't be long before you're clicking away in the most logical manner, successfully preparing a whole bunch of dishes for hundreds of hungry tummies, be they culinary masterpieces or just a good ol' burger with ketchup and fried onion rings!

Cooking games - what's on the menu?

This list of cooking games gives you an idea of what's on offer.

Restaurant games

Cooking Academy 2: World Cuisine
Time to brush up your cordon bleu, haute cuisine, er... yes, international cooking skills here! Eight countries and 60 recipes should keep you busy - but does it include my favorite - bangers and mash?

Go-Go Gourmet: Chef of the Year
More gastronomical gameplay with Ginger, as she returns in this frenetically paced game, competing against seven international hopefuls to become Chef of the Year. Use your hidden object and time management skills to impress the judges.

Hell's Kitchen
It's your turn to brave Gordon Ramsay's bootcamp, testing your skills in both kitchen and restaurant. Not for the faint of heart!

Diner Dash
Classic restaurant empire building game, where you start at the bottom rung of the ladder and work your way up to conquer the restaurant world!

Delicious 2 Deluxe
Help Emily make a profit in a set of themed restaurants, as she tries to save her family from financial ruin.

Burger games and other fast food fun

Burger Island
Help Patty turn around the fortunes of a failing burger bar, by serving up a range of burger dishes that combine various ingredients - so get ready for some frantic clicking! Good background music, too.

Burger Shop
Fast food, fast action in the shop where ingredients come whizzing along on a conveyor belt and it's up to you to get them prepared and packaged for each of your customers. A variety of restaurant themes and locations as well as upgrades in this wonderfully fun game.

Turbo Pizza and Turbo Subs
These two cooking games feature Rebecca and Robert, working like mad to set up their pizza franchise, and in the second game of the series, moving locations to New York to test their sandwich making skills.

Coffee, cakes, chocolate and ice cream :)

Cake Mania 3
Time bending, cake making mania, as Jill finds her wedding plans have gone awry. Help her bake her way through time to make it to the church... on time!

Ice Cream Mania
If Cindy succeeds in her ice cream endeavours, she's set to inherit a fortune from Henry Rich! Help her achieve her dream by serving ice creams with a variety of flavors, toppings and decorations.

Coffee House Chaos
Seat customers, serve coffee, and keep your patrons happy in this chaotic coffee caper.

Find cooking games online:

Hungry for a hot dog game?
Try Hot Dog Bush to whet your appetite! Great fun and a fab little storyline.

Most of these games can be found in the action and arcade section at Big Fish Games.

You'll find Delicious 2 Deluxe in the action section at Zylom.

Zylom also offer Chocolatier as well as games such as Cake Mania and Diner Dash.

The joy of virtual cooking!

Virtual cooking games are so hassle-free.

You can start and finish cooking when you want - no dirty dishes or crumbs on the floor!

Your hard work is appreciated - great service can bring fab goodies and gadgets for your kitchen, bar or restaurant!

It all makes for a wonderful escape from your usual cooking routine.

In fact, it's easy to let the real dinner burn while you're having the time of your life preparing tasty morsels for virtual gourmands :)

Strange but true: these games are great for a ten minute break from housework or "real" cooking!