One of the many things we love about Spain is their menú del día (or daily menu). It’s typically served at lunch and consists of a starter, an entree, dessert or coffee, and a drink. Each menú del día costs anywhere from €11 to €18, which is a steal, considering how large the portions are and the price includes all taxes and tips.
We would order three menú del días for the four of us and we always walk away stuffed. You can choose from 3-4 items for each course, and the items are usually pretty fancy!
Starters (from left to right):
Baby squid, lobster/seafood rice, snails and grilled cuttlefish. Some starters could be a meal by themselves!
Entrees (from left to right):
Seafood paella (that’s three portions in the photo), oxtail stew, and grilled squid. The Spaniards make squid so, so well. It’s perfect every time.
Desserts were usually just ok, hence why I didn’t take many pictures. 😅 But we seek out menú del día wherever we go. Can’t miss out on a good deal and good food!
I remember being worried that we wouldn’t be able to adjust to the late meal times in Spain. (Lunch starts at 1pm – 2pm and dinner is at 8pm. Back in SF, we would eat lunch at 11:30am and dinner at 6pm.) But surprisingly, we adjusted within a week. Sometimes we didn’t get hungry for lunch until 2pm! Dinner can be a challenge because we wanted C and O to sleep early. If we went out to eat, we wouldn’t get back home until 9:30pm – 10pm. So, there were times we just bought groceries and cooked dinner at our Airbnb. It can be a nice break from eating out all the time and also getting more vegetables in our bodies!
P.S. We’re actually in Lisbon now, but I’m still catching up on Spain posts!
Hongs Abroad 