Delicious: The First Course takes you back to the origins of Gamehouse's culinary mascot

• Gamehouse returns to their long-running series, Delicious, with Delicious: The First Course
• Take on new challenges as you explore the origins of the series' mascot, Emily
• Time management, minigames, upgrades and more in classic restaurant sim style!

When it comes to saccharine culinary simulators, whether you consider them bad or good, few can compete with Gamehouse's long-running series, Delicious. And now you'll be able to jump into a whole new instalment featuring the studio's mascot Emily and explore how she got started with Delicious: The First Course.

As far as gameplay goes if you're familiar with the Delicious series then this newest entry won't hold any major surprises. If you're not, well, what rock have you been living under? Like any culinary management sim that draws its inspiration from Diner Dash, you'll have to juggle numerous time-management tasks to ensure you run your restaurant as smoothly as possible.

Naturally, you'll be able to progress from humble eateries to more specialised haute cuisine, all while playing distinct minigames and slowly upgrading your restaurant. Hire helpers, change up the decor and upgrade your equipment to avoid your dream kitchen turning into a nightmare.

Simply irresistible

I remember it once being said to me that one of the key innovations many popular casual releases on mobile made was the decision to include more narrative elements. I believe it was the folks from Wooga who said that their various story events in June's Journey did just as much if not more than the gameplay in keeping their fans invested.

Little surprise then that Gamehouse, who've charted Emily's journey from single restaurateur to a happily married family woman with anything and everything in between, would decide to go back to basics after every other twist on the formula they've made.

You'll be able to nab Delicious: The First Course when it arrives on January 30th according to its iOS listing. In the meantime if you're looking for other ways to scratch your foodie itch, why not try out some of our picks for the top cooking games on iOS and Android?