From The Hindu Archives, April 16, 1976: Hotel-goers complain of decline in quality

Madras, April 15: Price reduction at the cost of quality and quantity. This is the complaint against the eatables supplied in hotels after the Government passed an order fixing prices of 10 popular dishes.

Comments of hotel-goers were generally caustic—no flavour in coffee; sambar and chutney bad enough before are now worse devoid of any trace of dhal or coconut; onions dominated potatoes in “masala”; dosais are thinned out; iddlis, even though flattened and stale, are still scarce.