Menu todos los dias

 Day Two in Santiago


I was young-ish and in love and what could better thing to do than have lunch. It is not adultery if your new love is food based. Together we embraced, my wife and I, one of Spain’s greatest contributions to civilised values - Menu of the Day. Originally, it was, apparently an imposition of the Ministry of Information and Tourism, which in August 1964 implemented by decree the obligation for all restaurants to offer a "menu of the day" with a price set by the State according to the category of the restaurant. What developed is the glories of the three course [sometimes four] meal which is both cheap and joyous.



Regional specialities will account for some variation but usually something like a soup or salad will be followed by a piece of meat or fish with chips and then flan or yoghourt to follow. Some places offer a glass of wine, some a bottle. Only once have we been left unsatisfied and that, to be honest, was after spending £5 in central Barcelona. [ok, that was about 20 years ago, but none the less, it was still very cheap. In Gijon you could have so much soup to start with that it was possible to drown yourself. In Catalonia, when they were short of puddings ‘sin azucar’ I got medlars, picked straight from the tree and still warm from the October sun. All this should be accompanied by a TV which is playing the news channel - the main stories of which you will be able to see several times.



The thing is, I can’t find where we ate. I know it had a basement level we went to. It had local working blokes in it - a sure sign it is worth going to - and after it, emerging into a the warm sun of a silent middling afternoon the prospect of siesta was inviting as we giggled our way back to our accommodation. To stand in for it welcome to Cervexeria da Avoa. https://www.facebook.com/cervexeriadaavoa/ Find its menu among the pictures.

Home Pic: Breakfast this morning at the Bar Pepin aka Casa de Thorpe-Ortiz.



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