The traditional menu of the day, with the classic combo of first, second, dessert, bread and coffee (some even with their paella Thursday), is disappearing from many establishments while other options gain weight. There are some exceptions, restaurants that have continued to offer a decent daily menu at a good price for years (from Can Boneta, in Barcelona, to classics like La Sanabresa or Ponzano, in Madrid) or even some recently opened ones that only have this option. (Per Feina, in Barcelona, by chef Rafa Zafra).
Everything indicates that the menu of the day is deflating as society does. Those succulent formulas, probably designed in the beginning for physical work, seem to appeal less and less to a worker who tends to eat in less time, use homemade tupperware and save money on the menu for other options such as dinners or after work. Furthermore, in many companies the two-hour midday breaks have long been left behind, which invited people to make reservations at a table-and-tablecloth establishment while waiting for the time to return to work.
Despite everything, the public still likes to stop at midday to eat a menu, a well-deserved break in the middle of the day that infuses energy and often brightens the day. Sergio Gil, chef of La Llibertària, a restaurant in the heart of Barcelona with a lunch formula based on two courses (dessert, drinks and coffees apart), explains it: “Customers have never stopped liking the lunch menu. . If it is gradually disappearing from many restaurants, it is because those of us who don't like it are the restaurateurs.” And the lunch menu – says Gil – “is a very demanding format that leaves very limited margins.” Unfortunately, replacing it with the menu is not usually a panacea either, since it usually costs the customer to adapt to an offer that is often more complex and, generally speaking, also more expensive.
However, there are still hoteliers who refuse to abandon the daily menu and continue racking their brains to ensure the continuity of a meal that represents a parenthesis in the middle of increasingly demanding work days. We have asked some of those who continue to support this formula what the secrets are so that the menu of the day continues to pay off for restaurateurs and please diners. And this is what they have told us.
“Vegetable creams in winter and cold soups in summer are good starters for a menu, since they allow you to play with seasonal vegetables, which can be found at affordable prices,” explains José Alberto Concha, from the El Cenador de Convento restaurant, located at the Don Paco Hotel, in Llanes (Asturias). Thanks to this philosophy, the restaurant creates a daily menu from Monday to Friday that changes weekly. It consists of an appetizer, four starters to choose from, four main courses, five desserts, a drink and bread, at a price of €48 and with dishes ranging from octopus and avocado salpicón to tempura cod with escalivada or beans with clams.
Legume-based spoon dishes are usually both satisfying and economical, in addition to offering the dose of fiber and vegetable protein that is often neglected in homes. At El Cenador del Convento they have a Fabada Menu for €28 that shows that “both beans, in the case of Asturias, and any other legume can be cooked in different ways and give rise to very complete dishes, which give a lot of play in the kitchen and they are not too expensive,” explains Concha.
According to Gil, from La Llibertària, for a midday formula to work it is important to reduce it as much as possible, with the aim of "achieving little loss, even zero loss." There is no other way to get the numbers to come out. La Llibertària has a formula that consists of a starter and a main course for €10, without dessert or drinks. “The idea is to offer a very limited combination of dishes that already exist on the menu, with the aim of reducing waste as much as possible,” explains the chef.
In this sense, Gil also proposes eliminating drinks and desserts from the proposal, so that they have to be paid separately, optionally. “Having lost the margins, the menus are unattractive for restaurateurs, so a good option is to leave out drinks and desserts: this way you get a plus in the rate and you can increase the margins a little to be able to continue offering the menu.” ”explains the chef of La Llibertària.
That times are no longer what they were is demonstrated by the decline of the strong midday menus consisting of starter, main course, dessert, bread, drink and coffee, with proposals that are almost always heavy and caloric. Little by little, healthy, lighter and healthier options have made their way, and restaurateurs have been forced to adapt their offer to this trend. It is explained by Javier Hoyos, head of the Il Giardinetto restaurant in Barcelona, which has for some time had a lunch formula that consists of a selection of dishes (of which two must be chosen and a dessert) at a fixed price of €28. “The key to making a lunch menu work is not only that it is profitable, but also attractive,” he explains. To do this, “it is important to pay attention to trends: what diners usually order or what dishes and products catch their attention.” Once this question is answered, the restaurant must try to fit these preferences into a closed and attractive offer.
For Hoyos, “it is important that, as restaurateurs, we know how to interpret all these trends and adapt them to a specific moment of consumption. We must not forget that the majority of people who consume lunch menus are during working hours.” This means that excessively consistent proposals do not usually work, but rather that more and more light and digestive dishes are demanded that allow the diner to continue working in the afternoon. Gil, from La Llibertària, confirms this trend after several decades working in restoration. “The portions themselves confirm that consumer taste has changed. Currently, seconds do not usually have a weight greater than 180 g, even with 150 g people are more than covered, while before they ranged between 220 and even 280 g,” explains the chef. In this sense, Gil also points out that to make a menu work, it is essential to "reduce the side dishes, although it is something that arises naturally, since the consumer themselves demands it."
For Hoyos, the way to achieve profitability is to achieve a balance between the different products, which means that nobler raw materials can be combined with cheaper ones, such as seasonal and local vegetables. If you pay attention to the maxim of balancing products and always looking at the season, you can prepare more than solvent dishes using such coveted raw materials as, even, seasonal blue fish. Concha explains: “in the case of Asturias, we have blue fish that are fished very intensively when they are in season, so the supply is extensive. We have greenfish, horse mackerel, mackerel or bonito, which allow extraordinary preparations at a good price.”
The diner often forgets that many lunchtime formulas require much more imagination on the part of the chefs than some creative cuisine tasting menus. It's not always easy to make the best use of pantry staples and turn them into attractive options. From El Cenador del Convento, Concha recalls an anecdote that exemplifies this vocation of the daily menu. “Whenever people talk about cheap menus, onions stuffed with bonito come to mind, a dish that was born in the Asturian mining basin by a lady who had guests and had the need to invent an extraordinary dish. She looked at what she had in her pantry and found onions, some tomatoes, bonito (very economical when it's in season) and eggs. She ended up creating a magnificent dish, which is still cooked today in many homes and in numerous restaurants.”
