Set B ($43++)!
Saturday sit-down restaurant — Set B at $43++. Mid-tier weekend set menu spread.
Saturday lunch with BB — Set B at $43++ at a sit-down restaurant. The set menu format at the mid-to-upper tier pricing.
We ordered:
- Set B — $43++
The Set B format is the casual restaurant set menu pricing — typically priced between Set A (the smaller / lighter set) and Set C (the larger / premium set). At $43++ this lands at the mid-to-upper tier of casual restaurant pricing.
The set composition varies by restaurant but typically includes:
- A starter or appetiser
- A main protein dish
- A side
- A dessert
- Drinks (sometimes)
The starter was the lighter opener. Probably a small soup, a salad, or a simple appetiser piece.
The main was the central event. A substantial protein-and-carb plate at the mid-tier restaurant level. Probably a grilled meat or seafood option with elaborate sides, plated cleanly.
A side or supplementary dish added the variety component.
Dessert closed the meal — a small plate of the kitchen’s standard offerings.
The set menu format is the right pricing structure for casual restaurants at this tier. Instead of à la carte ordering where you’d cobble together a starter + main + dessert at full pricing, the set menu bundles them for a small discount and lets the kitchen plan ahead for the dishes.
At $43++ (which adds 18% in service and GST, bringing the final to roughly $51) this is fair Saturday lunch pricing. The home lunch alternative would’ve cost $4-5 in groceries, so the splurge is real. But the sit-down restaurant break has its own value — different surroundings, slower pace, the small act of going out.
Some lockdown habits earn their permanence; some habits earn their occasional break. The Saturday set menu lunch was the second category.
Phase 2 had restored access to the full restaurant ecosystem. By late November we’d cycled through enough sit-down restaurant tiers to know which formats worked at which pricing points, and the Set B format at $43++ was firmly in the “occasional weekend treat” slot.
Overall: 4.5 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Solid Saturday Set B — would repeat occasionally.
