Children’s apps developer TribePlay has been making a name for itself with its Dr Panda apps over the last couple of years, and the latest one has a foody theme.

It’s actually a sequel: Dr Panda’s Restaurant 2, released for iOS and Android devices this week. As in the original game, it gets children preparing food in a restaurant frequented by colourful cartoon animals.

“Dr. Panda’s Restaurant is re-opening, and this time all the choices are yours! Make the pizza of your dreams, a pasta dish to rave about, or a soup so spicy your customers will breathe fire! Sweet or salty? Spicy or bitter? It’s up to you,” explains the App Store listing.

It’s reminiscent of Toca Boca’s Toca Kitchen app, with children choosing from more than 20 ingredients for their virtual dishes, which they then serve up to customers to see what they think. There’s even a vegetarian mode.

TribePlay stresses that this isn’t a game – no scores or time limits – while suggesting that it could be of educational interest on the grounds of cooking knowledge, but also reading facial expressions.

Anyway, it’s good fun. Dr Panda’s Restaurant 2 costs £1.99 for iPhone and iPad on Apple’s App Store, and £1.79 for Android on the Google Play store.

Read about more cooking apps for kids on Apps Playground, and check out our 100 Best iPad Apps of 2013 e-book – £1.99 from Apple’s iBooks Store