New York, New York!

We hope you liked the Hawaiian theme we put on for you last week! But this week it´s time for something else! This week you can take a bite of the Big Apple 😉 I am sure you guessed from the title of the blog post already, that the theme this week is New York!

You would of course not expect nothing else than two new dishes this week, I am sure. And what is more suitable than a Giant Pretzel and a Pastrami Sandwich?  Large, soft and salty pretzels are traditionally sold from street vendor carts in New York City. And if you feel inspired and would like to make your own, here is a suggestion for a recipe, Giant Pretzels are delicious!

This recipe is taken from recipezaar.com

8 pretzels

Ingredients
•    1 cup water, plus
•    2 tablespoons water (at 70 to 80 degrees)
•    3 cups all-purpose flour
•    3 tablespoons brown sugar
•    1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
•    2 quarts water
•    1/2 cup baking soda
•    kosher salt

Directions
1.    Preheat oven to 425.
2.    Place water, flour, sugar & yeast in a large bowl.
3.    Mix and knead dough for 5 to 10 minutes.
4.    (Add 2 TBS of flour after a few minutes if needed).
5.    Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.
6.    Divide into 8 balls.
7.    Roll each ball out into 20-inch ropes and form into pretzel shape.
8.    In a large sauce pan, bring water and baking soda to a boil.
9.    Drop pretzels into water 2 at a time, boil for 10-15 seconds.
10.    Remove with slotted spoons and drain on paper towels.
11.    Place pretzles on a greased baking sheet and bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
12.    Spritz or lightly brush with water.
13.    Sprinkle with salt and Enjoy!

Anyway, for Restaurant City, the Giant Pretzel is served as a starter, while the Pastrami Sandwich is served as Main Course.  Both items are limited dishes – so you better start collecting those ingredients! 🙂

Giant Pretzel		Pastrami Sandwich

New this week is the option to convert your purchased Playfish Cash into Restaurant City coins. It is simple to do this and you do it by clicking “Add Coins”  and then click on “Convert Playfish Cash to coins”  with the value you want and your coin total is updated immediately.

We have updated two of the ingredients you can send to your friends as a free gift. Available ingredients this week is Pineapple, Coriander, Garlic and Coconut.

There is this week also a sale in the shops, so go check out the great items that are for sale. I need to mention the Snow Machine which creates falling snow in your restaurant which is on sale for less than half price! Now is definitely the time to invest in the Snow Machine! You can check out the other items that are up for sale by checking the stores!

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The Gourmet King have also had an update to the items, recipes and ingredients you can share to your friends by finding him! Remember that the Gourmet King does not give you any items if you find him, he only gives you the option to share with your friends. If one of your friends find him and post to their wall, when you click on the link you will be given the item specified. With the new Toy Figurine and the Flower Bed among others, now is the time to go Gourmet King hunting! Note that a number of the items you can get from the Gourmet King are exclusive to this feature and you cannot get the items in any other way!

Valentine Decor Heart (indoor)	Toy Figurine (indoor)	Single Rose (indoor)
Romantic Tree (indoor/garden)	Blooming Cactus (indoor/garden)	Cafe Metal Sign (outdoor)
Red Ramen Sign (outdoor)	Flower Bed (outdoor)	Pink Bell Flower (outdoor)
Burger Figurine (outdoor)	Gignerbreadman Open Neon Sign (outdoor)	Prankster Tiki Mask (clothing)

As you can see there are a number of exclusive items that you can only get through the Gourmet King.  But we have done some further changes, we have also updated the recipes and the ingredients that you can get from him, the recipes you can now share and claim from the GK are:  2010 Cake and Meat Platter!

While the ingredients that he can give are the following, it is quite some list! 🙂

• Ice
• Tuna
• Pomegranate
• Prawn
• Mushroom
• Lime
• Pasta
• Lobster
• Oregano
• Onion
• Lamb
• Coffee Beans
• Cream

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Have you shared your email with Restaurant City yet? If not, now is the time to do it! As there is now a new item in the game that can only be bought if you have shared your email,  it´s the awesome animated Manhole! There are going to be more items in the future that are available only if you share your email, and remember we will never share your email address with anyone else and we will never send you any unwanted messages.

	Manhole (obtainable only if you have shared your email)

Phew, okay, that was a lot already,but I know what you are impatient for – the items that will be available on Thursday! Remember that  if you are in London, you will get the items at Midnight on Thursdays, if you are in Los Angeles, you will get the items at 4pm on Wednesdays,  if you are in New York, you will get the items at 7pm on Wednesdays and if you are in Hong Kong, you will get the items at 8am on Thursdays. These are all local converted times, to convert the time from where you live, you can use this timezone converter.

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So, for the outside of your restaurant this week we will be providing you with everything you need in order to create the perfect NYC atmosphere and look!  You definitely need to check out the Moody Clouds which changes between sun and rain, just like the weather in New York, or so they say! I personally like the Skyline Roof, I think it looks awesome! Any of the lamp posts are of course must-haves, and the animated NYC Taxi is also a must have if you are going for the New York  theme.

Skyline Roof	NYC Taxi	Grand Central Roof
Subway Decor	Street Signpost	Classic Street Lamp
Giant Monkey Decor	Graffiti Sticker	No Parking Sign
Cafe Banner	Statue of Cookery	Moody Cloud

Your staff will of course need a makeover in order to fit in with the New York theme, so this Thursday there are more new avatar items!  The I ❤ RC T-shirt is my personal favourite!

I ❤ RC T-Shirt	Ripped Jeans	Denim Skirt

And now for the indoor items!  We are adding more tile varieties this week as well as the very cool Broadway Poster which is animated! You also need to check out the hilarious Hotdog Cart stove which will make your chefs cook   20% faster. You also need to check out the Statue of Cookery who will, when placed in your restaurant, make your customers more patient. (adds 1 second to their waiting time, effect does not stack). I am not sure if your customers will enjoy rain inside your restaurant, but if you want you can buy the Rain Cloud which will make it rain! The more Rain Clouds you place in your restaurant, the more it will rain!

Dark Pavement TIle	Light Pavement TIle	Tarmac Road Tile
Park Table	Park Bench	Broadway Posters
Graffiti	Street Lamp	Cityscape Painting
Hotdog Cart Stove	Fire Hydrant	Traffic Cone
I ❤ RC Poster (fan gift)	City Wall	Rain Cloud
Skyline Picture	Fine Table Lamp	Fine Chair
Fine Table	Fine Tall Mirror	Stylish Vase
Skyline Wallpaper		Taxi Wallpaper
	Statue of Cookery

That´s it for the items this week, I hope you will enjoy the theme! Oh, and by the way, don´t be scared if you see a dialogue appearing when you are in your restaurant that asks you to go and help your friends in their restaurant, it is just a new feature we have added!

As always, feedback welcome! Enjoy!

Tags: big apple, gourmet king, manhole, new york, pretzel recipe, restaurant city, statue of cookery, yellow taxi