Whenever I am stressed or distressed, I instinctively reach for some form of carbohydrates. What would my life be without them. An unreasonable timeline, a project requiring lots of data searches or number crunching, dealing with difficult people are times whensomething crunchy to nibble on mindlessly, but when there are big issues that call forcarbo overload, noodles is the foolproof comfort food for me. Especially if thenoodles are carefully fried with passion and lots of wholesome ingredients, like the Rasapura stallholder late on Sunday evening. Piping hot, with the noodles, crunchy bean sprouts and chives absorbing the flavourful seafood stock, rings of springy fresh squid and two big fresh juicy prawns. This is restaurant quality hawker food that does wonders for the soul. Definitely worth the roundtrip to and from MBS.

Kudos to Burger King and other restaurants at Changi Airport for keeping prices at their Changi Airport outlets the same as elsewhere - unlike many other countries where food sold at Airport outlets are typically marked up over the standard prices charged at their restaurants in the city.

Affordable $4.95 meals at Burger King leave customers spoilt for choice - pick one's favourite burger, choice of fries or onion rings at no extra charge, 16oz soda of one's choice plus a mini sundae for dessert. What more can one ask in expensive Singapore? No wonder BK is teeming with travellers and non-travellers, locals as well as foreigners. I was happy with my Whopper Junior, juicy bee patty and with a thick slice of tomato to whet the appetite. The onion rings were nice providing a wee bit of fibre. Plus coke light and caramel sundae. Saw a whiz kid asking for kosong sundae so he plopped the ice cream into his coke for an ice cream float. I'll do that next time.

We were attracted to this specialty ice cream shop by the queue and on closer look we discovered that there is 31% off all handpacked to-go ice cream on the 31st day of the month. The staff was unfazed by the crew and cheerfully handed out teaspoonfuls of different flavours of ice cream to potential customers to try, without pressurizing them to buy. After the discount, a pint costs only $9.30 while a quart costs just $16.55 - cheaper than American brands of ice cream on sale in the supermarkets. We caved in to temptation and bought a pint to share. The staff obligingly let us mix two flavours in our pint sized tub. We picked the strawberry cheesecake and lunar cheesecake flavours. Strawberry cheesecake was not bad but I prefer the version at Cold Stone Creamery. However the lunar cheesecake was excellent - lusciously smooth texture and rich creamy flavour of cheese, with a refreshing tang and crunchy cubes of pretzel. Bliss in every mouthful! Two of us happily polished off our pint, re-joined the Q and each bought another pint for takeaway.

It takes very strong will power to resist stepping into this spacious and colourful confectionery emporium in B1 of Star Vista. Once inside the store, the shopper inevitably rediscovers the childhood joy of sauntering down the aisles to find shelves upon shelves of goodies. One either spends nothing here or ends up buying too much sinful stuff. The Angry Bird candies and cookies are popular items, as are the Star Vista's store 1for1 and 3 for $10 opening specials. I bought the 3 for $10 Baby Panettone imported from Italy which make great door gifts for Christmas parties.

YAYOI can always be relied upon to serve up hearty, wholesome Japanese set meals or teishoku. In Singapore where a pseudo Japanese meal from self serviced food  courts can cost $7 or $8 without drinks, it is a joy to have food and free warm or iced water served to us at the table, with teishoku priced from $9.90++ for main courses like mackerel/saba, sauteed pork or beef. With free flow of hot green tea at only $1++, there are plenty of choices on the menu to choose from, making it possible for diners on a budget to pay no more than $20.00 nett per head for a satisfying and tasty meal. Those who crave carbs can help themselves to additional portions of piping hot rice at no extra charge. The restaurant does brisk business at dinner time even with the plethora of dining options at The Star Vista which is a good walk from the residential areas in the Buona Vista/Dover/Ghim Moh area. The interactive tablet screen at every table makes ordering a breeze, and our drinks were brought to us almost as soon as we had submitted our orders. If you need a tea refill, just tap on the [call staff] button at the base of the tablet. A large jar of pickled cabbage sits next to the condiments and cutlery tray at every table.

The chicken teishoku at $13.90++ was great value with a huge, juicy chicken patty seared to a delectable golden brown. It was served with a bowl of house salad, a cube of chilled tofu, a bowl of miso soup with wakame and diners can help themselves to the pickled cabbage. However, the mixed toji teishoku, also priced at $13.90++, did not come with any salad. The mixed toji is good for meat lovers as it contains half a slab or breaded pork cutlet (rather fatty according to my dining companion), a piece of ebi fry and a decent portion of sautéed sliced beef or pork served on a sizzling plate and bathed in a savoury scrambled egg and onion gravy that is great with rice. Yayoi serves Meiji ice cream at $3.50++, in flavours such as goma (black sesame) and matcha (green tea) but we were satiated enough to pass the dessert. 

Yayoi is a good place to refuel after a workout. Easy on the pocket too so it's also recommended for those who prefer eating out to cooking at home.