Price Check!!

Today on the way back from running some errands, Katie and I decided to find somewhere to eat some authentic, cultural food. So there was this one place we've seen and there's always people in there, so we decided to give it a try. We sat down at the bar (it's always cheaper to eat at the bar!) and looked at the menu, but of course it was all unfamiliar to us, so we asked if they had a "Menu of the Day." Here, all restaurants are required to have a "Menu of the Day" for a set price, that usually includes 2 courses, a drink and dessert. It's also usually the most affordable way to eat. Usually.

So they told us that to have the Menu of the Day, we needed to sit down in the restaurant. We had no idea there was more to the place! We just thought it was a little hole in the wall (albeit a nice hole in the wall). So we go to the bag and there's this whole big extra room and the tables and chairs are so nice and there's fancy plates with the real cloth napkin (that's how you know it's high class - when the napkins aren't paper) folded all fancy on the plates with two different wine glasses at each place setting....I'm thinking, "oh no. What did we get ourselves into?" So the waiter shows us the Menu of the Day (no price, of course) and helps us figure out what to order. The food comes and while it's not the most delicious meal I've ever had, it's certainly one of the "nicest," in presentation and everything.

Before the meal they brought us a bread basket and a plate of roasted almonds. They were some of the yummiest almonds I've ever had in my entire life. No lie.

The first course was this dish with scrambled eggs, more mushrooms than I ever thought were possible on one plate (they LOVE mushrooms here), and shrimp. The second course for me was little things of lamb - I don't know what cut they were but there were bones - with potatoes. Katie's second course was bass - scales, eyeballs and all. Very nice.

Then came dessert. A big slice of chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, the kind with chocolate crinkles throughout it. Then came coffee. SO good. Way better than coffee in the U.S.

So I'm thinking, "wow...this was a nice meal. Last time we had a menu of the day meal, it was like 7 euros. I bet this will be 10. 10 is okay - it's too much, but I'll deal with it."

So then the check came. 15.50 Euros each. That's like, 20 something dollars each!! TWENTY DOLLARS!! I've never paid TWENTY DOLLARS for just one meal!!! NEVER!! OUCH!!

So the lesson of the day: ALWAYS find out the price before you order. I'll be recovering from this one for at least the next week...