Excellent game! Sprite and level design are awesome, and the decision to have separate directional firing mechanic made a lot of sense and works well. One minor suggestion - when you successfully hit an enemy with slime, have them bounce back a little to create some space. When the chaser chefs are after you, they're the same speed as you, so trying to "fend" them off is a little rough even early on (then maybe have some of the later enemies not bounce back, ramping up the difficulty). Great work!