Is the menú del día still a bargain in Spain?
Prices are up 3.5% in a year but Murcia has one of the best deals for a lunch break
A menú del día is one of those simple pleasures we all associate with Spain, but with the cost of living creeping up, this lunchtime treat delivers far less bang for your buck than it used to.
According to a survey by the hospitality employers’ association Hostelería de España and the digital solutions platform Edenred, the average price of two courses, a drink and dessert now stands at €14.70 across the country. That’s 3.5% more than the €14.20 recorded a year ago and it comes as the overall CPI rate reached 4.9% in September.
Dearer basics in restaurant kitchens are behind the rise, with eggs up 12.3%, legumes and vegetables 9.8%, beef 7.9% and fresh and frozen fish 4.5%.
The price depends a lot on where you sit down, with almost €3 separating the cheapest region from the dearest. Diners in the Canary Islands and the Region of Murcia get the best deal at an average of €13.50, while the Basque Country is the priciest at €16.30. Extremadura, Asturias and Andalucía are also at the cheaper end on €14, whereas the Balearic Islands charge €16, Cataluña €15.70 and Madrid €15. Only the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community saw prices hold steady over the year.
Restaurants explained that the fixed price is still the main attraction, cited by 34.5% of establishments, ahead of home-style food (21.8%), speed during the working day (19.3%) and better value than ordering à la carte (13.4%). Traditional cooking remains at the heart of it, with 84.9% serving Spanish or regional dishes at least one day a week and half of them (50.4%) serving them every day.
Menus are also flexible. More than half of restaurants (54.6%) routinely allow changes and another 34.5% will do so on request, while 47.1% offer a half menú for smaller appetites or tighter budgets and 68.7% sell a takeaway version.
It might cost a touch more these days, but most diners would say a menú del día is still money well spent.
Image: Archive / Flickr
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