Menú del Día in Spain: What's Included, What It Costs in 2026, and How to Order It

A first course, a second, dessert or coffee, bread and a drink for under 15 €. Where the Spanish set lunch came from, how much it costs region by region, how to read the chalkboard by the door, and what to say to the waiter.

Why does a bar charge 14 € for one plate of grilled fish from the carta (the regular menu), and 13.50 € for lentils, the same fish, a flan, bread and a glass of wine at lunchtime? Short answer: the second option is the menú del día (menu of the day), the cheapest way to sit down to a full lunch in Spain, and it only exists for a few hours on weekdays.

The first surprise usually comes with the bill. You had the flan, then a coffee, and the coffee is there on a line of its own. Nobody cheated you. The board by the door said postre o café, dessert or coffee, and that o means one of the two.

What is a menú del día, and why is it so cheap?

It is a fixed-price lunch: a primero (first course), a segundo (main course), postre o café (dessert or coffee), bread and a drink, usually with three to five options for each course. You pick one of each, and the price on the board covers all of it.

On 17 March 1965 the Ministry of Information and Tourism, then run by Manuel Fraga, approved the Ordenación Turística de Restaurantes (BOE, 29 March 1965). From 1 June that year every restaurant had to offer a Menú turístico (tourist menu): three dishes chosen from its own carta, with "about eighty grams" of bread and a quarter of a litre of house wine included in a price capped by the state. Dishes the order called de alta especialidad (high-speciality) could carry a supplement on top, and charging for cubierto, the cover, was banned outright. The obligation disappeared decades ago and the name became menú del día, but the bread and wine stayed in the price.

It stays cheap because of how the kitchen works. In the morning the cook makes one big pot of lentejas (lentils), cocido (chickpea stew) or macarrones (macaroni) for the office lunch rush, and a ladle from that pot costs far less than a dish cooked to order from the carta. Office workers on a jornada partida (split shift) have a lunch break of an hour or more and eat out, so the pot is empty by four.

How much does a menú del día cost in 2026?

On average 14.70 €, up 3.5 % from 14.20 € in 2025, according to the annual survey by Hostelería de España (the national hospitality association) and Edenred, published on 22 October 2026. A third of the restaurants in it said customers pick the menú for exactly that: a closed price you know before you sit down. The spread between regions is about three euros:

Prices on the board include IVA (VAT), because Spain's consumer protection law, the Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usuarios, requires the final price to be shown. There is no service line on the bill and no tip is expected. Regulars leave the coins from the change on the saucer; leaving nothing is fine too.

What is included in the menú del día?

Here is a typical board, the kind you see outside a neighborhood bar on any weekday:

The drink can be a caña (small draught beer) as well as wine or water. Old-fashioned roadside places sometimes put a whole bottle of house wine on the table, and you drink what you like, it's all in the price. A second caña in a city bar goes on the bill at bar price. If the board says postre y café, with a y, you get both.

Most bars will swap a dish if you ask. In the same survey more than half said they do it as a matter of course, and nine in ten adapt the menu for allergies or a diet. "¿Puedo cambiar el primero por otra ensalada?" (can I swap the starter for another salad?) is a normal question. Mixing two segundos instead of a primero is also common, sometimes with a small supplement. Dishes marked supl. (suplemento) cost extra on top of the menu price, usually the steak or the seafood rice.

When is the menú del día served, and how do you find one?

Weekdays at lunch. The kitchen usually opens for it around 13:00 and stops taking orders between 15:30 and 16:00; the busy hour is 14:00–15:00, when offices empty out. More on how the rest of the day bends around this meal in our guide to Spanish daily schedules.

At weekends most bars drop it. Some offer a menú de fin de semana (weekend menu), which costs more and usually includes a rice dish or something roasted; worth it on a Sunday with friends, not as a cheap lunch. In the evening there is no menú del día, and dinner is from the carta, and a fixed menu chalked up at 20:00, with the dishes in four languages, means a place made for visitors. Walk two streets off the square.

You don't need a special app. Look for a chalkboard or a printed sheet by the door, often in a plastic sleeve, with the words Menú del día and a price. In office districts and near polígonos (industrial estates) most bars have one. Along the old carreteras nacionales (national roads), the restaurantes de carretera and ventas (roadside inns) where truck drivers stop are known for generous menus, and if the parking lot is full of trucks at 14:00, the food is good. On Google Maps, search "menú del día" and look at the most recent photos — people photograph the board.

How do you order a menú del día in Spanish?

Often there is no written menu at the table. The waiter recites it, fast: De primero tenemos lentejas, ensalada o macarrones; de segundo, merluza, pollo o lomo (to start we have lentils, salad or macaroni; then hake, chicken or pork loin). A typical exchange goes like this:

• ¿Tenéis menú del día? — Do you have a set menu today? (In a busy bar a simple "¿Para comer?" (here to eat?) from the waiter means the same thing.)
• ¿Qué hay de primero? — What's there for the first course?
• De primero, las lentejas, y de segundo, el pollo. — The lentils to start, then the chicken.
• ¿Y para beber? — And to drink? Vino de la casa / agua / una caña, por favor. — House wine / water / a small beer, please.
• ¿Postre o café? — Dessert or coffee? ¿Qué hay de postre? — What's for dessert? The usual answers: flan, natillas (custard), arroz con leche (rice pudding), fruta del tiempo (fruit in season).
• ¿Me cobras cuando puedas? — Can I pay when you have a moment?

For the request itself, Para mí, de primero… (for me, to start…) and ¿Me pones de primero…? (literally "will you put me…") both work. Notice the informal forms: ¿tenéis? is vosotros, said to the bar as a whole, and ¿me cobras? is tú, said to the waiter. Nobody switches to the formal usted here, and that is normal. Our article on quería, quisiera and me pones explains why a bare ¿me pones…?, in the plain present tense, is perfectly polite at a Spanish counter.

The bill will not come until you ask for it, even at 15:45 with the chairs going up. The sobremesa, the talk after the plates are cleared, is part of the meal, and the bill waits until you ask. In a hurry? Ask for it together with the coffee: y la cuenta, cuando puedas (and the bill, when you can).

For tapas, rounds and evening drinks, see our guide to Spanish bar culture.

Check yourself: read the board

What to remember

Weekdays, roughly 13:00–16:00, about 15 € for two courses, dessert or coffee, bread and one drink. Read the board before you sit down: o means one of the two, supl. means extra, and the best dish goes first.

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