How to play Cá Viên Chiên: a beginner’s guide

Start in a few minutes

Open the Play page, tap “Open a new stall” and follow the six steps below. The clock only runs after you press “Open”, so take your time restocking.

1. Restock before opening. Buy just enough fish balls, beef balls and other items for the day.
2. Drop items into the fryer. Tap an item on the tray to drop it into a free fryer spot.
3. Flip when the bottom is golden. When the spot says Flip, tap it.
4. Take out when golden all over. When the spot says Take, tap to bag it.
5. Add sauce and drinks. Pick the right sauce and make any drink the customer ordered.
6. Serve the customer. Tap the customer to hand over the order and collect payment and tips.

Example: your first day with 150,000đ

You take over the cart with 150,000đ, 20 fish balls and 12 beef balls in storage, plus chili and hoisin sauce. Fish balls cost 1,500đ and sell for 3,000đ each; beef balls cost 2,000đ and sell for 4,000đ.

A safe plan: tap “Buy +10” on fish balls (15,000đ) and “Buy +10” on beef balls (20,000đ). That gives you 30 fish balls and 22 beef balls with 115,000đ left to unlock new items on day 2. Selling all of it brings in 178,000đ before tips.

• Don’t overbuy: storage holds at most 40 pieces per item, and money sitting in storage earns nothing.
• Day 2 unlocks sausages (60,000đ) and kumquat tea (90,000đ) — longer orders, but more revenue.

Fry, flip and take out

Tap an item on the ingredient tray to drop it into a free spot in the fryer. The ring around each piece shows how cooked the bottom side is. When the ring is full and the spot glows yellow with “Flip”, tap to flip it.

When both sides are golden the spot turns green with “Take” — tap to put it into the customer’s bag. Leave it too long and it chars black; the only option left is “Toss”. Burnt pieces are lost money.

How to pick fish balls and fix a wrong piece

There is no ladle to drag: each tap on a tray item drops exactly one piece into a free spot in the wok. For an order with fish balls and beef balls, tap fish balls, then beef balls, as many times as the customer asked for. The wok starts with 4 spots; Fryer upgrades take it up to 10 so you can fry more at once.

Bagged the wrong piece? Tap it in the bag to take it out, or press “Throw out” to start the bag again. Removed pieces count as waste, so check the order before dropping items into the oil.

Managing the heat

The Heat control has three levels: Low, Mid and High. High heat cooks about 45% faster, but the golden window before burning gets about 30% shorter. Low heat is 30% slower but safe when you are juggling many orders.

Reading orders

The bubble above each customer shows the items, quantities (e.g. ×3), the sauce and any drink. The bar below is patience: green → yellow → red. When it runs out the customer leaves and your stall rating drops.

Fill the bag with exactly the right items, tap a sauce, then tap the customer. A wrong item, sauce or drink costs 15% of their patience, but your bag stays intact so you can fix it.

Drink station

You can unlock kumquat tea from day 2, milk tea from day 4, herbal drink from day 6, lime tea from day 8 and soda from day 10. Tap a drink to make it; when it is done it drops into the bag automatically. The station makes one drink at a time, so start as soon as you see a drink order.

Closing time and upgrades

The stall closes at 22:00 but you still serve everyone who is waiting. The summary shows customers served, revenue, tips, the day’s costs and profit. A higher rating brings more customers.

There are 6 upgrades with 3 levels each: Fryer (+2 frying spots), Oil wok (+12% cooking speed), Storage trays (+20 pieces per item), Stools & table (+15% patience), String lights (+10% tips) and Signboard (+12% customers).