In Spain a “menu” means “menu del dia”. I think there might be some regulations requiring restaurants to have them because they all do. Two or more first course choices (salad, soup, beans, pasta), two or more second course choices (meat, fish), plus drink (water or wine), bread, and dessert. All for 9 to 15 euros. Ordering a la carte is normally at least twice as much. We like the menus because it makes deciding so much easier. A la carte can be overwhelming when everything is so unfamiliar.
On the Camino Frances the menus were usually called “pilgrims menus” but we rarely see that here except at albergues. The Camino is not nearly such a big thing here. The north coast of Spain is more of a big tourist area and that is where they get their income.
Addendum by Wynette: We ate twice at the restaurant with the above menu. Today’s choices were totally different than yesterday’s. Today we had (1) risotto with mushrooms and shrimp, (2) salad with cheese and beef prepared like Iberian ham, (3) grilled beef, (4) dorada (mahi mahi) with melt-in-your mouth roasted potatoes. Charlie had sidra to drink. I had water. Then, at the end, the waiter (owner?) brought us two glasses of cava (sparkling wine), on the house. He said today is Mother’s Day in España.
12€ is roughly $15 at the current exchange rate. That has to be one of the world’s great travel bargains. Where else can you get a first-class three-course meal, including a glass of passably good house wine for $15. That’s about the same as a breakfast at Denny’s with juice, eggs and coffee. And in less things have changed, the price includes tax and tip.
Yes, an amazing bargain and yes, price does include tax and tip. We usually leave some tip anyway but not so much is expected here. I understand fine not to leave a tip but always appreciated. Wynette
That WiFi is faster than we have in Albuquerque.
Yes, we’ve had this super fast wifi a couple of places and it’s faster than anything we have seen in ABQ. Wynette
I understand your position relative to the “no need to leave a tip” thing. As an (rich?) American used to leaving tips, I find it hard not to leave one. The whole thing is awkward. I don’t want to “spoil” it for the locals, but on the other hand I don’t want to seem ungrateful and chintzy. In Austria the guidance from my friends at the institute I taught at was that they rounded up to the nearest 10 shillings (this was before euros). This worked fine when people used cash. It seems to work less well now that most purchases are by credit card — it seems odd to write in a funny number for the tip so that the total comes out as a round number. By the way, the German word for a tip is “trinkgeld” which translates literally as “drink money.”
Interesting! Yes, it’s awkward for us as well. We leave tips 90% of time for same reasons you sited. Sometimes “leaving the change” but, like you said, that doesn’t work with credit cards. And here there is no place to specify tip on the slip. So we leave 1 or 2 or 3 euros on the table. Wynette