Priced To Whet The Appetite

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday June 11, 2008

writes Jenny Tarran

WHEN you sit down to look at the menu at the Mattara Hotel, it's not just what is on offer for that day that is listed.

The menu folds out with a huge section given over to promoting various cut-price or special meal deals available on particular days.

This isn't an oddity at all, in fact there would be only a handful of restaurants or cafes that don't have a special of some sort designed to lure diners.

While the motive of the business owner may be to make traditional quiet nights busier, the appeal for the diner is just as great, with rewards that are often bigger.

It means a cheap or cheaper meal, sometimes a free bottle of wine, a free dessert or the children eat for free.

At the Mattara, on Mondays and Wednesdays for lunch and dinner, when you buy a main meal you get a second meal at half price.

On Tuesdays, if you buy a dessert you get a free cappuccino.

Every Sunday night there is a $10 meal deal menu featuring pastas, chicken schnitzels and seafood dishes.

Apprentice chef Josh Paoletti works in the Mattara kitchen five or six days a week and often sees the same faces week after week, and it is these regulars at whom the specials are aimed.

"On the Sunday night we have $10 deals," he said.

"It is something different once a week and it is to reward them."

The same philosophy is behind the half-price second meal on Monday and Wednesday.

The majority of these special deals are available on what are traditionally quiet days for restaurants, which is why early week and Sunday nights seem to feature the most cut-price deals.

As Friday and Saturday nights are the end of the working week and the times when most diners head out, most restaurants don't need to reduce prices or offer a special discounted menu to ensure they have a full dining room.

When it comes to a special menu, such as the Mattara's $10 Sunday menu, the dishes are usually cheap and easy to prepare.

Pasta is a favourite discount dish, as is steak and schnitzel.

Most restaurants and cafes will display their special deals like the Mattara does, but there is another way to find out about them via the restaurant website Eatlocal.com.au, which has what it calls Local Secrets.

Local Secrets is a huge database of special deals available at a range of restaurants, clubs and cafes from the Central Coast, Newcastle and the Hunter Valley.

These specials are updated regularly by the restaurants, so it is a great resource for those who want to dine out on a budget.

"Special deal nights are great, they draw a crowd for the restaurant or cafe, they are value for money and restaurants generally use the same ingredients, so the food is of the same quality as on non-special days," Eatlocal owner Luke Stronach said.

"It means good crowds and atmosphere midweek for restaurants and a great excuse to get out and about during the week."

Surveying the hundreds of specials listed on his website, Mr Stronach said that the most common Hunter meal deal was the schnitzel night, costing $10 or $12. Meals deals were also frequent.

"Restaurants offer buy one get one free specials or a discount value, however these often require a voucher to be presented and many deals are tied in with another activity such as trivia or free pool," he said.

"Many offer a meal-drink special, like a steak and a schooner for $10."

The popularity of these specials is increasing and Mr Stronach sees it being pushed along further by diners wanting more value for their dollar, especially with people battling the rise in housing and fuel costs.

Many of the specials nights are aimed at rewarding restaurant regulars.

Have you a favourite special? Email jtarran@theherald.com.au and dob in your favourite deal for next week's readers' favourite specials.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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