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How To Ask For The Check In Spanish

Deciphering the special set of vocabulary that comes along with dining out in Spain can baffle even those of us who aced their Castilian classes in school.

From ordering steak to asking for the bank check in Castilian, this guide has got you covered with the essential words and phrases that will assistance you lot tackle any eating house in Spain like a pro.

Close up of a person eating a meat dish while holding a small chunk of bread in the other hand.

You don't take to be fluent in Spanish to consume amazingly in Spain, but there are a handful of words that will make the experience a bit easier. From deciphering different parts of the menu to ordering exactly what you desire, these 16 foodie words and phrases will help you eat (and order!) like a local.

Close up of a plate of ham croquettes
A ración of croquettes.

When dining out in Spain, you'll find that many meals are served family way. The large plates that are ordered for the entire tabular array are called raciónes.

The just deviation between raciónes and more unremarkably known tapas is usually but their size! The general dominion of thumb is to order as many raciones equally there are people eating, place them all in the center of the table and serve the food onto individual plates.

A ración by and large provides enough food for three or four people. There'south also a second, medium-sized option on the spectrum between tapas and raciones: the media ración, which is a good size for two people.

How to use it:¿ Nos pones una ración de croquetas?(Nosotros would like a shared plate of croquettes.)

2. Tapa: Small Plate

Aperitif spread of cured meat, olives, cheese cubes, anchovies, potato chips, and vermouth set atop a wooden barrel.
A unproblematic array of tapas, complete with vermouth!

Reverse to mutual belief outside of Spain, the word "tapa" refers only to the size of a plate, non what is on information technology! When dining out in Kingdom of spain, a tapa can be everything from 2 triangles of cheese or a dish of olives to a mini hamburger or even a modest portion of paella.

Tapas are merely small amounts of food. In cities like Madrid or Granada, they often come free when ordering a drink. In other cities, they toll money—merely it'southward often well worth it for the quality and innovation.

How to use it: Me encanta este sitio. Las tapas aquí son riquísimas! (I love this place. The minor plates here are succulent!)

3. Pintxo: Small-scale Plate with a Skewer

One of the most important Spanish words to learn before visiting Spain: pintxo.
Pintxo of goat cheese and caramelized onions.

Head up to the north of Spain and you'll observe bars lined with colorful, eye-catching small bites skewered atop pieces of bread. Welcome to the land of pintxos!

"Pintxo" is simply the Basque word for "tapa." Following Basque tradition, pintxos are ofttimes a flake more than elaborate than tapas and are most always served atop a medallion of bread with a skewer through the entire thing.

How to use it: Me gustaría un pintxo de queso de cabra y cebolla caramelizada. (I would like a small plate of goat cheese and caramelized onion.)

Close up of meat in sauce with french fries on a white plate
Meat dishes like this carrillada are always available as the second course on the menú del día.

Daily fixed-toll menus, or menús del día, are a matter of beauty when dining out in Spain. They usually consist of 3 or iv choices each for both a kickoff and 2d course, bread, a potable, and either dessert or java. All of that will prepare you back just €ten–15!

Menús del día are only served at lunchtime, and unremarkably only during the week. Some restaurants also offer a lunchtime menú de fin de semana on weekends, simply it tends to be more expensive than its mid-week analogue.

How to utilise it: ¿Qué tenéis de menú del día? (What are the options for the menu of the 24-hour interval?)

5. Caña: Small Draft Beer

Close up of a person's hand holding a small draft beer
There'southward a method to the madness: The small-scale size of cañas allows them to stay perfectly cold while you lot eat your tapa!

A caña is a brusk glass of draft beer. Cañas are usually most 200 ml (roughly ¾ cup).

Beer in Espana is well-nigh commonly ordered by size, as many bars only serve the local brew on tap. Then instead of ordering a Mahou or an Estrella Damm, y'all would ask for a caña. However, the craft beer boom in Spain is slowly irresolute this, adding more than beer options seemingly every week!

How to use information technology: ¿Me pones una caña, por favor? (I'll have a small-scale draft beer, please.)

6. Cuenta: Check or Nib

Close up of a bartender writing a client's tab in chalk on a wooden bar top.
Some Spanish bars still use the old-school method of keeping rails of your tab in chalk on the bar top!

Request for the cheque when dining out in Kingdom of spain is every bit easy as catching the server or bartender'due south eye and making a gesture like you are writing in the air. If y'all do desire to use words, though, get with "la cuenta."

In Spain, it is considered rude for waiters to bring the check before diners ask for it. Speak up when you're ready to pay; otherwise you'll be waiting for quite a while!

How to utilize it: La cuenta, por favor. (The bank check, please.)

7. Postre: Dessert

Two servings of arroz con leche in clay bowls.
Flossy rice pudding is the perfect Spanish dessert.

The best part of any Spanish meal, whether dining out or eating at domicile!

Desserts in Spain tin be anything from a slice of chocolate cake to a piece of fruit. The former unremarkably comes after dinner while the later is more common afterward luncheon. If you order a menú del día, your dessert volition oftentimes be included in the toll of your repast.

How to use it: Para el postre, yo quiero la tarta de queso. (For dessert, I'd like the cheesecake.)

eight. Vino Tinto: Scarlet Vino

Close up of a person holding a glass of red wine with a vineyard in the background
Incredible Castilian cherry-red vino.

If yous're not picky, request for a vino tinto will get you a glass of the house red. But if you want to go more than specific, proceed in heed that vino in Spain is almost always ordered by the region, not by the grape.

When it comes to red wines in Spain, 2 regions all but dominate beverage menus and wine lists: Rioja and Ribera. The former is Kingdom of spain's best-known wine region even away, but the latter is starting to give information technology a run for its coin.

Wines from Rioja tend to be lighter and fruitier than their more tannic and juicier Ribera counterparts. Both regions produce primarily tempranillo grapes.

How to apply information technology: Ponme una copa de wine tinto (de Rioja), por favor. [I'll have a glass of red wine (from Rioja), delight.]

9. Vino Blanco: White Wine

Close up of a bartender pouring two glasses of white wine on a wooden bar top.
The reds are more famous, but don't forget well-nigh Spain'due south excellent white wines!

Spain'south nearly prized white wine grape is albariño, which comes from the northwestern province of Galicia. Albariño is an exception to Kingdom of spain's order-by-the-region rule, as information technology is the name of the grape, not the region.

Wines from the Rueda region, which tend to be lighter and fruitier than albariños, are gaining momentum in the small-scale but mighty world of Castilian whites. Even Rioja produces some splendid white wines that, while not also-known as their red counterparts, are well worth a try!

How to use information technology:¿Qué vinos blancos tenéis? (What types of white wine do y'all have?)

10. Vaso de Agua (de Grifo): Glass of Tap Water

To become a drinking glass of water at a restaurant in Spain, you have to specifically ask for information technology. Merely if yous but ask for agua, the server volition almost always bring a large bottle.

For just a plain one-time, free glass of tap h2o, it'due south necessary to specify that yous want a glass (rather than canteen) of h2o. De grifo means from the tap (to make it extra clear).

Tap water in Spain is safe to drink; however, in many coastal cities like Barcelona and Malaga, the taste can be a scrap off. While it won't make you ill if you lot do consume it, you're amend off request for bottled water (una botella de agua) which tastes much ameliorate!

How to use information technology:¿Nos pones dos vasos de agua de grifo? (Could you bring us two glasses of tap water?)

eleven. En Su Punto: Medium Rare

Medium rare steak on a white plate
Fantastic traditional steak at a Basque cider house.

Literally translated, en su punto means "at its point"—as in meat cooked to its betoken of perfection. This is the phrase to use if you desire a medium rare steak when dining out in Spain.

Waiters will typically only ask how you would like your meat cooked if you have ordered a beefiness steak. To social club a rare steak, inquire for it "poco hecho." A well done steak would exist "muy hecho."

How to utilize it:El chuletón para mi en su punto, por favor. (I'd like my steak cooked medium rare please.)

12. Cortado: Coffee with a Splash of Milk

Literally translated, cortado means "cut." In the food world, the affair being cutting is coffee.

A cortado is a shot of espresso "cut" with a splash of steamed milk and topped with a spoonful of milk foam. You tin can utilize information technology every bit a substantive: I'd like a cortado. Or you can apply it as an adjective: I'd like a café cortado.

Exterior of the food realm, cortado means cut, as in " ¿Te hevery bit cortado el pelo?" (Have y'all cut your hair?).

How to employ information technology: Me das un cortado, por favor? (I'll have an espresso with a splash of foamed milk, please.)

13. Café con Leche: Half Coffee, Half Milk

Overhead shot of a person pouring milk into a clear glass of coffee.
Coffee in Spain is oft served in articulate glasses rather than mugs.

The virtually popular Castilian coffee beverage, even so, is the ubiquitous café con leche, or Spain's answer to a latte. This beverage consists of equal parts coffee and milk. You can also specify which temperature you lot'd like the milk to be: go for caliente if you want hot milk, or templada for lukewarm milk that volition forbid you from called-for your natural language!

How to apply it: Quiero un café con leche, con la leche templada. (I'd similar a java with lukewarm milk.)

14. Casero: Homemade

Three white plates of creamy cheesecake on a wooden surface.
The incredible homemade cheesecake at La Viña in San Sebastian!

Ane of the most important questions you lot tin ask at a Spanish restaurants is if the desserts are casero.

Many restaurants in Espana serve packaged products like yogurts, water ice cream bars or chocolates on their dessert menu. While some of these tin can be decent, nothing beats homemade sweets. Whenever yous're handed a dessert carte du jour, be sure to ask which of the items are actually fabricated at the eating place!

How to utilize information technology: ¿Qué  postres caseros tenéis? (Do you have any homemade desserts?)

15. A La Brasa: Charcoal Grilled

A man grilling steaks over a large charcoal grill.
Grilling steak a la brasa in the Basque State.

If yous're craving something grilled, a la brasa is the fashion to go. This term is only used when items are grilled over a flame and charcoal. Typically, only meats or octopus are usually found "a la brasa."

How to use it:Pulpo a la brasa es mucho más rico que pulpo a la gallega. (Charcoal grilled octopus is much tastier than Galician-style boiled octopus.)

sixteen. A La Parrilla: Grilled

16 Spanish words and phrases  you need to know to eat well in Spain
Vegetables a la parrilla with romesco sauce

A parrilla literally refers to the metal grill top that is usually placed over a burn down to cook with. In practice, many of the items served a la parrilla are really cooked on a grill pan on the stove, not over a fire. You volition get those squeamish grill marks, though!

How to employ it: Prefiero verduras a la parrilla que verduras al horno. (I adopt grilled vegetables to baked vegetables.)

16. A La Plancha: Cooked on a Griddle

Chorizo-stuffed mushrooms on a white plate beside a short glass of red wine.
Incredible chorizo-stuffed mushrooms, prepared a la plancha.

A plancha is a large, flat, metal cooking surface that is mutual in virtually restaurants. In Spain, everything from fish filets to garlicky mushrooms is seared on this type of hot griddle. If the card does not specify how an item is cooked, information technology's prophylactic to assume it will exist a la plancha.

How to employ it: A mí me encanta el salmón a la plancha, pero no me gusta el salmón ahumado. (I love salmon that has been cooked on a griddle, but I don't like smoked salmon.)

Dining Out in Spain Vocabulary FAQs

What are cañas in Spanish food?

Cañas are the small draft beers that are pop accompaniments to tapas. Their small-scale size allows them to stay common cold in the time it takes yous to finish your dish. That'due south why you'll ofttimes see locals drinking them while nibbling on tapas in Spanish confined!

What is "grill" in Spanish?

The Castilian give-and-take for "grill" is parrilla. However, at restaurants in Spain, this term is ordinarily used to refer to food cooked in a grill-style pan on a stovetop. If you want something charcoal-grilled over a flame, look for the term a la brasa.

How do you lot ask for the check in Spanish?

In Spain, y'all can simply say "la cuenta, por favor" (the bank check, delight) when you lot catch your server's attending. Another mutual phrase many locals employ is "¿nos cobras cuando puedas?" (literally: "tin can yous charge us when you tin can?"). Either 1 is a perfectly fine way to ask your server to bring the bill.

How exercise yous ask for a table for two in Castilian?

Though you tin can technically seat yourself at Spanish restaurants (there'due south no host or hostess), information technology's mostly considered polite to take hold of a server's attention and ask if a table is available—especially during peak times when the restaurant is busy.

To do and then, but ask for "una mesa para dos" (a tabular array for two), or however many people are in your party. If tables are available, the server will usually just invite you lot to grab whichever ane you lot similar.

Update Notice: This post was originally published on December iii, 2015 and was updated with new text and photos on June ane, 2021.

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Source: https://spanishsabores.com/16-spanish-words-you-need-know-before-dining-out-in-spain/

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