Restaurant City: Gourmet Edition whips up screenshots, but no release date

At the beginning of July, EA and Playfish quietly announced the existence of a Restaurant City iPhone game, now called Restaurant City: Gourmet Edition. While we plan on having a Q&A with the developer closer to the game's launch (the date is still unknown to even us), we have been given some screenshots, and even a logo, to help tide us over. Ok, so these will probably only make us more excited, rather than calming us down, but there you have it.

This first shot seems to show that we won't lose much of the "design-a-restaurant" gameplay found on the Facebook version, with its transition to the smartphone (although it does look like we may only be able to have one theme at a time, rather than swapping out on the fly). Also, it doesn't look like we'll be able to expand to an outdoor grassy area, as this particular screenshot seems to have decorated one of the four corners of its indoors to look that way instead. However, the basics are here: there are stoves with individual chefs, drink stations and all of the tables and chairs we'd expect, along with bathroom facilities at the far right. So far so good.

What does look to be a bit different is the design of our ingredients and cooking screen. This particular screenshot shows off the ingredient trading feature, which will again allow us to trade ingredients with friends to more easily complete recipes. It's presumable that the entirety of the cooking menu (including the recipe select screen) would have just as streamlined an appearance, in order to make browsing simple on the smaller screen.

I wish we had more information as to what to expect with Restaurant City: Gourmet Edition, as I'm just as excited about trying out this new game as you are, but I suppose for now, we'll have to simply scan and re-scan these pictures for any new details we may have missed while waiting for more news to be announced. You can be sure we'll let you know when there is.

Are you excited for Restaurant City: Gourmet Edition on iPhone? Which item themes are you hoping Playfish brings into the mobile version of the game? Do you want an entirely new decorative theme for your new restaurant, or will you try to duplicate your Facebook restaurant? Sound off in the comments.