Menú

Menú is a false cognate in Spanish; it does not mean "menu." In any Latin American restaurant, you'd need to ask for la carta to get your standard a-la-carte menu. However, here in Peru, restaurants have adopted a special meaning for the word menú: a fixed-price lunch offering that includes an appetizer, main course, and drink. Each day any lunch-serving restaurant will post its signboard out front, advertising what dishes the menú of the day will include.

There are always one or two options of appetizer - one of which is always a soup - and then somewhere between two and six options for the main dish (general components being meat, rice, and potatoes). You do not have a choice of beverage, but rather will receive a glass of whatever "juice" (sugar-rich water with a bit of flavoring) the restaurant has prepared that day. The price? An average of five soles (less than $2) - you can't beat that bargain!