Ferran Adrià says Spain's traditional menú del día is dying

Ferran Adrià, the Catalan chef behind the former elBulli restaurant and one of the most influential figures in modern gastronomy, publicly questioned the future of the menú del día. He described the traditional set lunch as dead or dying and argued that the format needed to change.

The menú del día is a fixed-price, multi-course weekday lunch, usually a starter, a main course, dessert, bread and a drink. Its origins are often traced to the 1960s, when the Spanish government introduced a regulated tourist menu. It later became a daily habit for office workers and a core business for small restaurants and bars across the country.

Adrià's remark mattered because of who made it. His comments pointed to rising food and labour costs, thin margins for restaurateurs and changing eating habits, and they set off a debate about whether the cheap three-course lunch could survive in its familiar form. That debate has returned repeatedly as prices have climbed and new formats have appeared.