Every day deserves a toast

This is sponsored content for Citibank.

Don't wait for a special occasion to dine out during the week. The very best reason is in the food and wine.

Look around a restaurant on a weeknight and you'll most likely see off-duty chefs, sommeliers and other hospitality professionals among the clientele. They're enjoying a secret shared by those in the know: it's a delightful time to dine.

Eating out midweek, they will tell you, requires no reason other than the food and the drink itself, and offers a range of unique pleasures.

You're likely to find your favourite restaurant expressing a very different, more intimate side of its personality. With time and space to breathe, and free from the frenetic demands of weekend crowds, a good restaurant and its staff can reveal their hidden depths.

Over decades observing diners in his family company's line-up of multi-hatted restaurants, restaurateur John Fink has seen the many benefits of midweek dining, and is a devotee himself.

"My wife and I love midweek dining, and we have a date night every week," says the Creative Director of the Fink Group of restaurants, which includes Sydney's Otto Ristorante, Quay and Bennelong. "We look forward to it. We keep that space for us romantically. We can get to know each other again and it's easier as there's no big group shouting and going off because it's Friday or Saturday night."

While weekends are peak time for big celebrations, midweeks are perfect for 'just because' dining, says Fink.

On the other side of the table, Amanda Yallop, Fink Group's Wine Director, also relishes the midweek atmosphere. "Weekends are fun and electric, but there's such a calmness during the week – it's a very different energy," she says.

These are the times, she says, when she and her colleagues can enjoy longer, deeper conversations with diners. "It's lovely because people often want to spend more time talking about the food and drink and those chats are diverse and interesting; perhaps about the produce and those stories behind the menu."

During the week, says Yallop, diners are often keen for new taste adventures. "There's more openness to try something different, to ask me for suggestions. They're more likely to ask a question that might have a long answer, and it's easier because you have more time to engage. I love that one-on-one interaction. There's an old-school charm to it. It's like a warm embrace."

On a weeknight in a major city, dining out lets you reclaim the landscape from weekend tourists and revellers. A weeknight can mean the rockstar spot rather than a seat on the far side; an unbroken water view or a cosy booth where you can linger until you've savoured that last, lovely drop of your new favourite red.

"If you go midweek to one of our restaurants, you know you'll get a good position; a good corner table or a seat at the bar," says John Fink.

Restaurateur and chef Sean Connolly agrees. "Overall, I just think you get better service, as the restaurants aren't as busy," says the culinary director of Sydney CBD's The Morrison Bar & Oyster Room. "At weekends, there's the tourist influx and it's the time when everyone organises celebrations, so you have the staff dealing with more and bigger groups. During the week you have more time to talk to the waiters and the sommeliers, maybe the chef, too."

Another midweek benefit is bang for your buck. "In some places you can pick up on great deals," says Connolly. Among the Morrison's range of midweek deals, he points out, you'll find $1.50 oysters on Wednesdays and steak and bottomless frites on Tuesdays.

It also affords spontaneity. If a craving for your favourite noodles, sauce or a certain rare wine varietal kicks in on Tuesday afternoon, chances are you'll be able satisfy that urge straightaway.

Says John Fink: "Often midweek we get people answering the call of what I call the 'cross town dish.' It's a favourite dish you'd travel for when you get the hankering and think: "I need to taste that strozzapreti at Otto right now…' Midweek you can just decide to treat yourself."

Whether you're toasting hump day, taking advantage of a Tuesday deal, starting your week with a Monday treat or sharing a romantic Thursday moment, there are innumerable ways to celebrate every day. But you don't need to wait for a reason.

"Just head out," urges John Fink. "You can even dine out on your own during the week – I often do. It's an important part of self-nurturing."

Adds Amanda Yallop: "I love midweeks as a diner, and I love them when I'm working in the dining room. You're winning either way."

Dining out mid-week is made even more appealing for Citi customers, who can take advantage of the Citibank Dining Program and receive a free bottle of wine when they dine and pay with their Citi card. This offer is available at hundreds of partner restaurants across Australia, including the Fink Group restaurants and the Morrison Oyster Bar.