If you sit at a table in Australia they will bring you water and glasses when they come to give you menus (at a mid-expense cafe/restuarant).
At a low expense resturant/cafe/pub the water will be available in ready filled re-usable bottles on a table/fridge with stacks of glasses and you grab bottles and glasses for your table as needed.
In higher end resturants the waiter will seat you then ask if you would like any water and offer “tap, sparkling or still”. “Tap” in this case will be chilled and served in a nice caraf or jug, poured by the waiter. And the sparkling or still options are ‘brand name’ bottled water which you pay for.
Water is legally required to be served upon request in any food/drink serving establishment and you will be served immediately and without judgement just as if you were buying any other drink.
Recently I had a note-worthy experience at Marmelo in Melbourne CBD: The wait staff asked the usual “still or sparkling” I opted for still, as it’s usually free/tap but others opted for sparkling. Turns out the sparkling was from a tap so it was also free! And I’m noticing this more and more in establishments, in Melbourne at least.
No way! I love sparkling water but dont want to pay for the bullshit expensive french ones that reataurants uaually have, hopefully this catches on.
Sparkling water is super common in Europe i have noticed, they have like low, medium & high fizz level options for bottles you buy at shops, and in Italy i even stopped at a place that had a public water fountain that had both still & sparkling water, which was weird given that public toilets all cost for use over there too.
If you sit at a table in Australia they will bring you water and glasses when they come to give you menus (at a mid-expense cafe/restuarant).
At a low expense resturant/cafe/pub the water will be available in ready filled re-usable bottles on a table/fridge with stacks of glasses and you grab bottles and glasses for your table as needed.
In higher end resturants the waiter will seat you then ask if you would like any water and offer “tap, sparkling or still”. “Tap” in this case will be chilled and served in a nice caraf or jug, poured by the waiter. And the sparkling or still options are ‘brand name’ bottled water which you pay for.
Water is legally required to be served upon request in any food/drink serving establishment and you will be served immediately and without judgement just as if you were buying any other drink.
Recently I had a note-worthy experience at Marmelo in Melbourne CBD: The wait staff asked the usual “still or sparkling” I opted for still, as it’s usually free/tap but others opted for sparkling. Turns out the sparkling was from a tap so it was also free! And I’m noticing this more and more in establishments, in Melbourne at least.
No way! I love sparkling water but dont want to pay for the bullshit expensive french ones that reataurants uaually have, hopefully this catches on. Sparkling water is super common in Europe i have noticed, they have like low, medium & high fizz level options for bottles you buy at shops, and in Italy i even stopped at a place that had a public water fountain that had both still & sparkling water, which was weird given that public toilets all cost for use over there too.
I don’t think we have that rule in Germany. I only know that the cheapest drink on the menu must be non alcoholic.
Oh that is interesting. Though with how cheap your beer is i would probably just buy a lager instead.