Reduction in portion size! (but prices remain the same?)

For people who lived in the UK, or the European countries will certainly know the recession has hit us very hard for the past few years, but it seems like this year has been the worse so far!

Everyday without fail the newspapers will report articles of hundreds of people fighting for one job (I'm not exaggerating, it is that bad!). With the government cutting back on benefits and other supports of the public it really feels like they are rubbing salt into wound.

Well I supposed desperate times call for desperate measures! This brings me to an incident that happened yesterday. I went out to lunch with my parents at the usual local Chinese Restaurants, which still requires 10-15 minutes driving time. We ordered the usual stuffs and much to my amazement I noticed the size of the dim sums has shrunken quite a bit, especially the Cheung Fun, Ha Gao , Siu Mai and the Rice with Ribs and Chicken Feet! Should have taken some photos to back up my statement (well I did take one photo, but to be fair the food pictured here had already been eaten quite a bit by us, therefore it doesn't represent the full amount given,[ see below]. What I want to show in this photo is the container used is not the usual one. Normally it is filled inside a taller rounded ceramic pot that is double that size), but anyway, it wouldn't have been that noticeable if they didn't use the old plates to hold some of the foods. I know some manufactures use this tricks for sweets and foods but I never thought it will happen to restaurants as well (yes, I can be very naive at times). I suppose it is less noticeable than increasing the price of the foods instead! =_=!

Has anyone got the same experience(s)?

M xx