I'm bored. And when I get bored, I have my own fare of fun.

The really bad kind where it comes out, apropros of nothing, and all in the sake of seeing your reaction.

Now, let's get get down to me becoming the shill of the quotidian affairs of the local people's lunches. Exotic lunches to you, but the local fare for me.

Yes, I'm grinning. Evilly? I don't know.

Today, my grandmother brought me to Chinatown to have lunch with her. She knew a restaurant that had cheap but great chicken noodles.

She wasn't kidding.

All right, it looks oleaginous, sorry to those who don't really like that much sauce and oil, but it's essential to the taste! Trust me on this one. I love noodles, and this was the once-in-a-chance that I got to seat myself in this over-crowded restaurant eating its speciality.

That's chicken noodles, served dry, and chicken rice noodles at the far end, served dry as well. By the side of the wallet is canned soyabean milk. (No, not that flavourless soy bean milk! The sweet kind!) In the middle are two bowls of really tasty soup, leafy vegetables and -

At least six ingots of chicken-and-mushroom goodness.

Now here's the part where I murder.

It cost SGD$11.70 for a meal for two.

Divide that in half. That's the rough estimate of the cost in US dollars. Divide that in three for the British pound.

And that's Chinese food, mate! Cheap, great, and everyday!

That only leaves me to say: Nyeh-nyeh.