Being a Masterchef

The prime method of collecting gems in Restaurant Story is by mastering recipes. At the second and fourth levels, perseverance with foods will result in the awarding of a gem. With so many recipes in the game, that's a lot of gems up for grabs.

But what is the best method to go about harvesting these gems? Most restaurants I've visited tend to cook a single food in large batches which will get gems quicker but sporadically.

I do the opposite. Keep rotating the recipes and slowly move the meter up. This is beneficial on two accounts. Firstly it keeps a bit of variety to proceedings - it can get pretty stale to cook the same items continually (anyone who participated in the Christmas goals in 2012 will know just what I mean). The second reason is a technical one - by rotating your recipes you can master most of them around the same time, resulting in a high influx of gems in a short space of time. In my case, I recently reached mastery at the second level on most recipes on the Basic Stove, Basic Oven and Basic Grill, meaning I was just about drowning in gems. Nice.

Those gems have been well spent now with some going towards some future sections for the restaurant while I also used 30 gems to purchase the Kissing Swans pond for Valentine's and it looked swish:

Kissing Swans

However I no longer have these lovers on show as Valentine's has come and gone!

If you choose to use my method of mastering recipes you do have to be prepared for a long slog though, as I've taken about 6 months to reach the second level. Patience is crucial.

Of course my problem now is that I have a heck of a long wait to master any of the main recipes at the fourth level. But at least I've now got the full complement of 18 appliances to work off. I'll get there!