Equinox Restaurant at Swissotel the Stamford

If you are afraid of heights, then this is not an experience for you. If you love to have the cityscape infront of you as you eat, then you have to try having a meal at Equinox Restaurant, Swissotel The Stamford. You can choose to have lunch or dinner. Currently, they have a lunch buffet special, so keep a look out for their special promotions for a good deal. Also, depends on what's your preference. I personally think the night view is definitely a lot more interesting than the daylight view. So plan carefully, especially if it's for a special occasion.

Some things that you have to take note if you are dining at Equinox.These are some of our take-aways after having dinner at the restaurant over the weekend. Firstly, if you want to sit by the window, the restaurant has a window seat policy. There are two shifts for dinner that you can choose from, either from 6.30pm to 8.30pm or 8.30pm to 11.30pm. You have to call ahead to make reservations so if you're going for lunch, check with them if they have a similar policy.

This window seat policy is a good way for them to make money cuz you get more people by having two shifts. We went for the 6.30pm slot. Also prepare your credit card as you have to give them your credit card details. If you don't turn up, they will charge $40 per pax. And if you're running late, they will hold your table for 15 minutes so do watch the time.

We had a nice table and the view was fantastic. I think the 6.30pm slot is a good one cuz you really see the change in landscape. Each minute I look out, the landscape looks different. So out came my camera and yes, I took pictures. Kinda hard with the glass window and I had reflections in my pictures. And as it got darker, all the pictures turned out blurry. But these are some that I had of the skyscrapers for your viewing pleasure.

Above: View from my seat at 6.47pm.

Above: And this is the last (clear) shot at 7.25pm.

The view is really amazing from that height. As for the food...where do I start. We were served with some bread with butter and olive oil. And pretty cool how they served the basket of bread (see below).

For starters, I had their Bisque of Lobster and Mud Crab soup and found it so so. It looked presentable but taste wise..it was pretty average.

Was pretty dark inside when we started on our dinner. We both ordered their Beef Tenderloin (see below) which was their signature dish. For what we were paying, we really expected something heavenly. Found the meat chewy (gums actually hurt after I was done eating the meat). Was very tiring that dish I must say. Huge disappointment. Had to down alot of water when eating dinner. Oh yes, we had still water (no tap water served of course) and we had three bottles throughout the night and each bottle costs us $10. So savour your Evian please *laughs*

How could we miss dessert ya? I did think about having Cedele's carrot cake but getting all dressed up and since we started already had the main at Equinox, thought we could end with something nice. So we picked the Sweet Temptation (below) that was meant for two. Should have listened to my instincts and gone for the carrot cake at Cedele's. Dessert was no big deal and that was really our last shot to go ooohhh and ahhh over the food but we didn't :o(

What I would suggest to you would be this. Plan your evening carefully. If you're willing to fork out $400 for dinner for two, then please go ahead and have dinner (starter, main meals and dessert with drinks in between) at the Equinox Restaurant. Otherwise, have dinner elsewhere, then head to City Space which is at Level 70 at the same hotel. You get the great view of Singapore cityscape minus the huge hole in your pocket. They have a good singer there and you can just enjoy the drinks as you watch the cityscape.

Post and pictures by Zilla.

Pho Hoa: Vietnamese Noodle House @ Holland Village

Stumbled upon this place many moons ago by chance when we were walking around at Holland Village looking for a place to eat. We were having a late lunch and decided to give Pho Hoa a try. I had some Vietnamese beef noodle elsewhere before but it didn't leave any impression on me.

But Pho Hoa is a different thing all together. I am no pro when it comes to Vietnamese noodles but this place was good for me cuz of it's oh so tasty soup. It's got quite a range of noodle soups to choose from, mainly beef but you can choose chicken ones too. You can also choose to make your own combination of meats for your beef noodle which is good if you're fussy about what you eat.

We went there again today for dinner after a long break and left the place totallt stuffed. For appetitisers, we got our usual spring roll. It's served warm and it's nice and crispy when you bite into it. Also try the sweet chilli dip sauce that comes with the spring roll.

We were feeling hungry so we ordered a few more appetizers that we didn't try the last time. The meat on skewers were tasty with a nice mix of onions and capsicum. I didn't use the sauce that came with it cuz the meat were tasty on their own.

We also had the steamed chicken with egg which was also okay but might leave this out the next time round unless I am really really hungry. You can taste the minced chicken when you bite into this. They definitely do not stinge on their meats.

Moving on to the main meal, I got my favourite there is the Adventurer's Choice ($11.00) which has a mix of various beef parts such as brisket, flank, tripe and tendon amongst others, boiled in tasty hot soup. I love the chewy tripe and gooey tendon that has been cooked till it's so soft. Yum yum!

Bless them for serving their bean sprouts or taugeh separately cuz I am no fan of these stringey things so was thrilled when they brought this separately. If you're a taugeh fan, dig in!

If you want something simple (or safe), no worries, lots for you to choose from. They also have rice dishes on their menu if you're not into noodles. And for noodles, you can choose to have the regular size (good when you're hungry) or the large bowl (when you're very very hungry). After slurping every single bit of goodness and soup in the bowl, am too stuffed to try their dessert. Will have to try and do that the next time round cuz eyed the Vietnamese Chendol and Fried Banana with Ice-Cream Tower which sounded real good. Will keep that for our next visit.

What brings us back to Pho Hoa - the staff are generally very nice and very obliging, the place is simply decorated yet cosy and the beef noodle soup tastes great. Good enough reason for me.

Photos and post by Zilla.