A few days back a couple of us go into a recently furbished restaurant in the town center. We used to frequent it before it closed down for repairs and facelift. Why did we frequent it? Well, isn’t it obvious? The prices were reasonable and the treatment while it is nowhere near five star or nay star, it’s not bad given the changing times when in some places they treat you as a panhandler and not a customer there begging for alms. It also was rather quite where you could have some serious talk with whoever you are without being forced to whisper.
So this time the place having undergone some quite impressive refurbishments with a lot of soothing ambience, we expected the same treatment if not the prices we were used to. It was only a question of how tough the price increases were. They were real tough. I order a small cup of macchiato, another one of us orders tea and the third wasn’t interested in having anything, not at least with the morning still so early. I also order the most common, and the most reasonably priced of cakes. ‘Reasonably’ defined as cheap! Of course, these days ‘cheap’ is subjective. No genius in the field of economy could tell you what is cheap and what’s not. I told you it’s subjective.
So as I told you the cake I ordered was the very commonest of all and I would not be exaggerating to say that you deserve some prize if you can manage three bites before it disappears. They have shrunk it so drastically you don’t need all the knife and fork stuff. The guy with the tea also ordered a piece of cake and given the size of his, mine was the Rock of Gibraltar! Being a guy who sees is given to those under the belt jabs he says, “Had they given me a glass of water I would have downed the cake like a capsule.” We laughed; laughed until the bill came! Two hundred and fifty-two birr! Being hit with such very unexpected dark surprise you might even think they wrongly brought some bill which should have gone to one of the other tables. Robbery! Simple daylight robbery. The piece of cake I ordered was labeled as ‘English cake’ and you know how much it was priced, more than ninety birr!
Of course, having devoted so much money for the refurbishment they need more money, and need it fast. As part of the community they two are victims to the bitter economic problems many find themselves in.
Not that we’re new to shocks when any bill arrives. But it seems that everything has jumped all the logical lines where you could have said, and indeed they haven’t their apologists too!, “Well what can they do. The price of everything has risen!” Look, outright condemnation of any and all price increases would be missing the facts by hundreds of miles. And that unfortunately isn’t something you smile about
A couple of weeks back we saw the copy of some receipt for a damn piece of burger. You want to know how much it costs? You indeed should know if only to protect yourself from such blood-draining shocks; they call it Crave Burger and it costs 1,130.25 birr! An entire grand and more for a burger! Now, could you be denounced as a nonsense primitive-minded no-good creature for believing that the End Times or whatever rhymes with that must have already arrived or the knocks on the doors are getting louder?
The irony whenever the economic troubles comes the business community seldom shares the joy. I mean of you made a cool million profit the other year what is wrong with settling for eight hundred thousand birr this time! Customers flocking to you have already started some meals and their dinner tables are being cleaned out faster than anything!
While many worry about the declining number of dishes on the dining table there are those whose most important worry is elsewhere. Someone was telling us about the hubby of a woman we knew who is almost going nuts because the fast increases on alcoholic drinks. He was a guy who used to have the ‘real stuff’ multiple nights a week. No more. Now he has joined the araki crowd! Aha! Doesn’t that sound familiar!
While we are at it someone told me that the local araki business is spreading like anything as more and more alcohol ‘fans’ seek drinks to match their wallets. I can tell you the local araki is highly regarded in many circles with being the perfect medicine for stomach cramps and the like. I know a guy who takes a single shot of araki with the smallest of mini-cups before bed every night. You should hear him talking about what he calls the benefits. Now this is guy suffering with persistent stomach problems for years and years. At any time he had some medicine his doctors told him to take daily. But then looking deeper there horrific stories. Now he claims the araki is doing what all those expensive medicines and very expensive doctors failed to do.
Now the hubby mentioned earlier being a regular drinker isn’t having it good with his health. In fact they say the signs are there pointing to even more medical problems and he is still angry about the rising prices of alcoholic drinks!
I have told you about the araki house owner who got into trouble because a couple of her regular customers met their end in her watering hall. So she comes up with rules; you are not served because you just enter and demand to be served like you do in any other such places. No way; you have to get her approval. You’re served only when she gives the go-ahead. It’s said she always sat in a position from where she can see everyone. If say I’m a regular and take a friend of mine it is not easy to order without passing her questions. “Do you know him?
“Yes I do.”
“Does he have the energy to drink?”
“Yes, he does.”
She tells the waiters to serve the new guy only one shot along with a bottle of water which works for all customers and she watches him as he drinks. Only if she is comfortable with the guy would he get a second and third shots. Now it is said the price of araki is increasing with such pace that it would soon be among those drinks only the VIP could afford. And still knowing it’s astounding that some of us are complaining about alcohol while there are other more pressing problems like simple, good old food!
This is not about choosing between teff and araki; it is about being smart enough to realize there is no such choice. Or have things changed so much so that the choice is indeed between teff and araki?
Ephrem Endale: Contributer
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 1 OCTOBER 2023