An unwelcome sign of the times(?)

I was shocked to discover last night at my favourite Muslim restaurant that they are now charging 4 kuai a bottle for Yanjing beer.

I go in there mostly for the food rather than extended drinking, so I've rarely had more than one or two bottles at a time; and I tend not to pay too much attention to the bill. However, I am pretty sure that, until not too long ago, it was only 3 kuai a bottle.

And even 3 kuai a bottle is, frankly, a little steep. OK, the place has a good location on a trendy shopping street, and directly over the road from the MAO Livehouse music club, but still - it is a very basic hole-in-the-wall dive, the kind of place that doesn't usually presume to charge more than 2 kuai a bottle.

I worry that this may be an early warning sign of the rabid price-gouging we can expect here this summer. Bloody Olympics!!