Restaurant 'Meal Deals' a recessionary phenomenon?

Some time ago now I wrote about the excellent “Menu del dia” that we came across in Ibiza and I suppose common across Spain. We would go out any lunch time and a two course meal plus a glass of wine or bear all for anything from €7.70 up to €25.00 … all excellent value for money in each case. So why on earth pay for two meals when you can shop around and get two for the price of one we thought and off we went searching very successfully for these deals that we had not encountered in the UK.

So on our return home last year from Ibiza we were happy to find that many places here were starting some sort of meal deal and I am sure that this has certainly got a lot more competitive of late given the current economic situation. However, you do have to be careful where you go and make sure you read the small print carefully as many of the deals don't cover a Friday or weekend. You also have to make sure you know if you can order anything form the menu or if you are restricted to a limited choice.

Recently with a friend who I talked out of eating at Raymond Blanc's new eatery in Portsmouth we went to eat at the Ha Ha Bar where the deal looked great at £10 discount when you spent £20 on main meals. All went went until the bill arrived and our lunch turned out to be nearly £40 even with our £10 discount. I had made the fatal error of not taking account of the cost of the side orders, drinks and coffees! To top it all the waitress was at a loss to explain how our £10 discount came out on the bill at only £8 and that our drinks cost over £8 when we had only ordered a pint of cider and a pint of lager.

I have since returned to Brasserie Blanc in Portsmouth and we had an excellent “meal deal” with attentive, professional and good humoured service. The meal itself was excellent and well worth a re-visit. There are two types of deal two courses at £11.90 or three at £14.35 wine included! We were also offered a daily alternative of a starter and main meal at £7.50.... a lovely place it is too!

But in Brighton there is another excellent place to eat again offering two courses for £10 no drinks included I'm afraid but in this case, who cares. This is from “Indian Summer” in East Street Brighton and rather cheekily describes itself as “Brighton's only Indian Restaurant”?

From our point of view the best deal around at the moment is the two course feast (well hardly a feats really) at Truffles in Southsea where you have a choice of two menus, one at £6.50 and the other at £7.50 but you do have to add the cost of a glass of wine or beer which still leaves the meal and the bill still one of the best deals going.

A spectacularly bad example of an offer in Southsea (French theme restaurant that I will not name and is not tagged here) was very enticing indeed and were still serving at 3pm which was very convenient turned out to be one of the worst meals ever. The fish ordered was smelling so strongly it could not be eaten leading to a fast conclusion that we would not be eating there ever again … £5.50 for two courses should have been a clue?

Another tip is when presenting your “meal deal” voucher is to make sure they deduct the value from your bill as there have been a few occasions where the discount is missing and the look of shocked horror on the waiters face when you highlight this is often so contrived it hard not to laugh.

There are of course many other places offering “two for one meals”, “Kids eat free” or simply a discount when ordering.. We have eaten well at Loch Fyne for two courses at £10, Prezzo, Zizzi, Ask , Brasserie Blanc in Portsmouth and Indian Summer in Brighton all offering two for one meals and all places where good food is served at good recessionary prices! Why lose out when most if not all of these meal vouchers are available by registering with the particular restaurant website or with MoneySuperMarket.com who issue regular emails with the vouchers.

To top it all you can even eat at home cheaply with the major supermarkets offering their own versions of the meal deal with our favourite the M&S “Dine in for two” plus a bottle of wine all for £10 which is excellent value! Get there early, pick the most expensive dishes and wine and walk off with a shopping basket sometimes worth over £20.

I did have a moment of concern recently when many of the deals seemed to disappear from the restaurants but it soon came back when the recession seemed to be getting deeper. Perhaps rather than watching the stock market we should tour the High Street and monitor “Meal Deals”

No, I am not getting fat I am just saving money!!