Bistro City ingredients: rarity, market, garden and trading
Bistro City has 62 ingredients, each rated from one to five stars for rarity. You get them from the daily market, your garden, the daily food quiz, the Food King's prizes and trades with friends. Common ingredients are easy to stock up on; rare ones are what slow down your dish level-ups, so it pays to know where each one comes from.
Game data as of 10 October 2026.
How ingredient rarity works
Rarity runs from one star (common) to five stars (rarest). Most ingredients are one to three stars; only three are five-star.
| Rarity | Number of ingredients | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| ★ | 15 | Tomato, Onion, Potato, Flour |
| ★★ | 18 | Egg, Milk, Bread, Cheese |
| ★★★ | 18 | Chicken, Butter, Sugar, Prawn |
| ★★★★ | 8 | Beef, Chocolate, Vanilla, Turkey |
| ★★★★★ | 3 | Lobster, Dragon Fruit, Saffron |
The rarer an ingredient, the harder it is to find and the more it is worth in a trade.
Where to get ingredients
You get ingredients from six places: the market, your garden, the daily quiz, the Food King, the Sprouts shop and trades with friends.
| Source | What you pay | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Market | Coins, at that day's price | Common ingredients you need right now |
| Garden | 2,000 coins per seed, plus watering and 48 hours | Herbs and spices, a chance at Saffron |
| Daily quiz | One right answer in 10 seconds | A free ingredient every day |
| Food King | Nothing, when he visits | Occasional prize ingredients |
| Sprouts shop | Sprouts | Filling a gap quickly |
| Trades | One of your ingredients | Rare ingredients a friend has spare |
The market
The market sells ingredients for coins at that day's prices, and what is on offer changes from day to day. Buying the same ingredient again simply adds to your stock. Check the market whenever you are one ingredient short of a level-up.
Your garden
Garden plots unlock as you level up, at levels 6, 13, 18, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 and 32.
- Plant a seed. It costs 2,000 coins and starts with 3 hours of water.
- Water it. Each watering adds 3 hours, up to 9 hours stored.
- Wait 48 hours of growing time, then harvest.
Twelve ingredients can grow in the garden: Basil, Bayleaf, Coffee Beans, Coriander, Garlic, Ginger, Oregano, Saffron, Sugar, Tea Leaves, Vanilla and Wasabi. You do not choose the plant: the game picks one of these for each seed, so every planting is also a chance at five-star Saffron.
The daily food quiz
Answer the daily quiz correctly within 10 seconds to win an ingredient. Rewards lean towards common ingredients: the chances by rarity are roughly 50, 30, 15, 5 and 1 out of 101 for one to five stars.
The Food King
When the Food King visits, one of the prizes you can choose may be an ingredient. Carrot, Icecream, Strawberry, Kiwi, Orange and Dragon Fruit are among the ingredients he can give.
Sprouts
Some ingredients can also be bought with Sprouts, the premium currency.
Trading with friends
See the next sections.
Locking your ingredients
You can lock any ingredient so it cannot be traded away. Every ingredient you receive, from a trade, the quiz or the garden, arrives locked. Unlock an ingredient only when you are ready to trade it.
Trading ingredients with friends
Trading is the best way to fill a gap with something a friend has spare.
- Open the trade panel with a friend.
- Pick one of your ingredients and one of theirs.
- Confirm the trade.
Direct trades and request trades
- Direct trade: if their ingredient is unlocked and not rarer than yours, the swap happens straight away.
- Request trade: if their ingredient is locked, or rarer than the one you offer, the game sends them a trade request by mail instead. They can accept or decline.
What a trade earns you
Each trade gives you gourmet points equal to the rarity of the ingredient you give away, so trading a three-star ingredient earns 3 points. Trades also count towards the trading trophies, at 50, 100 and 5,000 trades.
Which ingredients to keep
Some ingredients appear in many recipes. Among the 75 recipes available now:
| Ingredient | Used in |
|---|---|
| Sugar | 10 recipes |
| Flour | 9 recipes |
| Egg, Milk, Potato, Cream, Rice | 8 recipes each |
| Salad | 7 recipes |
Keep a few of these in stock before trading them away. For rare ingredients, check which of your dishes need them in the Bistro City ingredient list before you trade.
Next steps
Put your ingredients to work in learning and levelling up dishes, or browse the full recipe list.
Play Bistro City · New here? See what Bistro City is.
FAQ
How many ingredients are there in Bistro City?
There are 62 ingredients, with rarities from one to five stars.
Why are my new ingredients locked?
Every ingredient you receive arrives locked so it cannot be traded away by accident. You can unlock it from your ingredient list.
What are the rarest ingredients?
The three five-star ingredients are Lobster, Dragon Fruit and Saffron.