Menus del dia for less than €10

[t2andreo]

I just came across this article in La Voz de Galicia. I thought it might interest folks when they arrive at Santiago, shocked by how expensive most things have gotten.

Inflation and the general cost of living has indeed increased, and not only in our home towns and countries. It is a global situation.

Restaurants, in particular, operate on a thin profit margin. As maintained in the article, reducing or holding prices at a low price might mean that the owner has to forgo a salary for a time.

It is a fact of life for them. They have to compete against rising ingredient prices, rising utility costs. ever-present taxation, pressure to increase wages or benefits, and this being the off-season.

Anyway, this article from La Voz de Galicia highlights places in Santiago where the menu del dia is still around or less than €10. It relates to the date of this post - 23 January, 2023.

Santiago aún tiene restaurantes con el menú del día por menos de 10 euros

En la mayoría de los establecimientos el precio oscila entre 11 y 12 euros

www.lavozdegalicia.es

I hope this helps someone.

Tom

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Thanks, Tom! That's a very upbeat and helpful bit of news to those who are "heading that way" in the near future.

 

[Former member 92300]

Yeah - for the most part - I found the pilgrims meals to cost 11-15 Euros - hard to find some for less. Thanks for sharing!

 

[JabbaPapa]

A full menú del dia with a bottle of wine for €10 or less has become very hard to find, especially on the Francès.

I did come across a couple last summer, but by the time I finished walking in the beginning of January, they had basically vanished. Such things may still exist away from the Camino, and in some of the cities. But various circumstances led me to not looking in Ponferrada, León, Burgos, Logroño, or Pamplona -- in Astorga I managed to find a €10 or €11 menú wine included, which involved much searching to find.

In 2021 I did see a full menú for €7 in Catalonia, and last year did see one for €8 in either southern Galicia or south-west Castilla y León, both with wine included, but both establishments were closed I think because of Monday.

 

[Sirage]

I imagine the Spanish are more than fond of using reasonable ingredients, but this post makes me wonder if financial survival has tempted some to source ingredients that be in some cases food-like substances? Other countries certainly have gone down this path.

 

[Cecilia-Russell]

I really do sympathise with the hoteliers providing pilgrim meals, it must be difficult to manage. I guess the only way to do the Camino on a budget now, is to prepare your own meals. Are the kitchens still closed?

 

[Aguapura]

I just came across this article in La Voz de Galicia. I thought it might interest folks when they arrive at Santiago, shocked by how expensive most things have gotten.

Inflation and the general cost of living has indeed increased, and not only in our home towns and countries. It is a global situation.

Restaurants, in particular, operate on a thin profit margin. As maintained in the article, reducing or holding prices at a low price might mean that the owner has to forgo a salary for a time.

It is a fact of life for them. They have to compete against rising ingredient prices, rising utility costs. ever-present taxation, pressure to increase wages or benefits, and this being the off-season.

Anyway, this article from La Voz de Galicia highlights places in Santiago where the menu del dia is still around or less than €10. It relates to the date of this post - 23 January, 2023.

Santiago aún tiene restaurantes con el menú del día por menos de 10 euros

En la mayoría de los establecimientos el precio oscila entre 11 y 12 euros

www.lavozdegalicia.es

I hope this helps someone.

Tom

Thanks for the list. When I first hiked the Camino in 2010, 10 E Menus were the norm. Less than 10 E the meals were not as good, and at 15 E they were deluxe. I'm actually pleased that they haven't gone up very much since then, I'll be in Spain in March and have been expecting to pay more like 15E for a standard Menu.

 

[Rita Flower]

On Via de la Plaza last year Menu del Dia meals that I had ranged from €7.50 to €16. Most were around €12. The price increased the further north I went and I feel the meals might have gotten smaller - or else my appetite grew with all that walking.

 

[Aguapura]

Still a good value and a very modest price increase from my experience of 10 E Menus in 2010. I wonder if prices overall are lower in the south?

 

[henrythedog]

I wonder at what price one might think it feasible these days to serve two or three courses and a coffee and a glass (or even bottle) of wine, pay for premises, staff, tax and still make a profit?

Perhaps our expectations are too high. Or in cash terms, too low.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I wonder at what price one might think it feasible these days to serve two or three courses and a coffee and a glass (or even bottle) of wine, pay for premises, staff, tax and still make a profit?

Unfortunately, I think on the Camino pilgrims have often expected to get "something for nearly nothing"...hopefully that attitude is changing.

 

[Robo]

I wonder at what price one might think it feasible these days to serve two or three courses and a coffee and a glass (or even bottle) of wine, pay for premises, staff, tax and still make a profit?

Perhaps our expectations are too high. Or in cash terms, too low.

I agree.
Shouldn't we expect price rises? It's a fact of life.
Most of these places are not charities.

My wife laughs at me.
I still have expectations of staying in a nice Business Hotel in Melbourne CBD (Australia), for $125.
I used to commute every week from Sydney for a night or two.

She reminds me that was 20 years ago
You're lucky to find anything for $200-250 these days.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Still a good value and a very modest price increase from my experience of 10 E Menus in 2010. I wonder if prices overall are lower in the south?

It's more regional -- they're generally higher in Galicia, Navarra, and the Basque Country compared to Castilla y León or Aragón. Catalonia is patchy, higher in the more touristy areas, lower inland and out in the sticks. Don't know about the other regions from no personal experience.

In Portugal, it's pricier coastal, North and West, cheaper inland, East and South. These overlap, so that north-western coastal Portugal can be quite pricey. (dividing line here between North and South is BTW the broad area around Porto -- don't know about prices in or near Lisbon though)

And it's generally pricier along the more popular/touristy Camino routes. Some cheaper eateries do also exist there that could not survive without custom from pilgrims ; though in this case, they tend to be seasonal rather than all year 'round.

Plus local and/or individual exceptions to the general situation.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I wonder at what price one might think it feasible these days to serve two or three courses and a coffee and a glass (or even bottle) of wine, pay for premises, staff, tax and still make a profit?

It's often coffee or dessert, which helps.

As to the wine, the menú price is calculated by numbers of bottles consumed per year versus numbers of menús sold, and few Spaniards take more than a glass or two in these restaurants, where they eat mostly during their lunch breaks. So a lot of the wine ordered in menús gets sold later by the glass.

Pilgrims do more often take the whole bottle alone, because the rigours of the Way mean added requirements beyond the norm, but that's hardly common.

Apart from that, family restaurants, places out in the sticks, those set up in locations where housing is cheap, do have lower costs, and not infrequently lower local taxes. And so on.

Plus the ingredients themselves are a lot cheaper in Spain and Portugal than elsewhere in Western Europe.