A2 · Set lunches, street food and the bill
Eating on the road
The cheapest good meal in most of the region is the set lunch, and asking for it correctly is worth learning on day one. The rest of this is what you say when you sit down, order and pay.
Practise these
The set lunch
¿Hay menú?Peru
Do you have a set lunch?
In Peru el menú is not the list of dishes: it is the fixed-price lunch. The list is la carta.
¿Qué trae el menú?
What comes with the set lunch?
Usually a soup, a main, and a drink, for a few soles.
¿Cuál es la entrada y cuál el segundo?Andes
What's the starter and what's the main?
El segundo is the main course across the Andes.
el almuerzo ejecutivoColombia
the set lunch
Colombia and Argentina call it this, or el menú del día.
Para tomar, refresco.Peru
To drink, the house juice.
El refresco here is the jug of fruit drink that comes with lunch, not a fizzy drink.
Ordering
¿Qué me recomienda?
What do you recommend?
Works everywhere and usually gets you the good thing.
¿Es muy picante?
Is it very spicy?
Sin ají, por favor.Andes
No chilli, please.
El ají is the chilli sauce on the table in Peru, Bolivia and Chile.
Soy vegetariano, ¿hay algo sin carne?
I'm vegetarian, is there anything without meat?
Worth adding sin pollo explicitly. In much of the region chicken does not always count as carne.
¿Me trae una jarra de agua?
Could you bring a jug of water?
Para llevar.
To take away.
Street food
¿Cuánto está el anticucho?Peru
How much is the anticucho?
Grilled beef heart skewers, a Peruvian street classic.
¿Me da uno con todo?
Can I have one with everything on it?
un jugo surtidoPeru
a mixed fruit juice
The standard order at a market juice stand.
¿Está recién hecho?
Is it freshly made?
A polite way to check without implying anything.
Paying
La cuenta, por favor.
The bill, please.
¿Está incluida la propina?
Is the tip included?
Often it is not. Ten per cent is generous in most of the region and not expected at a menú.
¿Aceptan tarjeta?
Do you take cards?
Assume no at small places and markets.
Vamos a medias.
Let's split it.
Yo invito.
It's on me.
Invitar means to pay, not just to invite. Yo invito ends the argument.
20 expressions in this pack