Lunch @ Equinox Restaurant

From the days of Compass Rose, I have always wanted to visit this place. Now that Compass Rose is no longer around, Equinox Complex, a group of eateries took over, at the tallest hotel in Singapore.


With full length glass windows, Equinox rewards its diners with a bird's-eye view of the beautiful skyline of Singapore's Central Business District.

With a stunning, panoramic floor-to-ceiling views of Singapore and its interior decorated with teak, paper lanterns and wooden trellises, one can expect a nice blend of Asian and contemporary dining atmosphere.

Lunch is available in the form of a semi-buffet from Monday to Saturday. At $59++, one gets to choose a main course and supplement with a buffet bar. Here is a preview of what is offered at the buffet bar.


Among the buffets we have been so far, I have to admit that the selection of cheese offered at Equinox is one of the largest.


The appetizers offered includes Thai Style Seafood Salad, Tomato with Mozzarella Cheese, Beetroot Salad, Prawn Cocktail, Unagi Temaki, Char Grilled Vegetable Salad with Balsamic Dressing, German Potato Salad and Salmon Platters.




Selection of fresh seafood is also impressive. Though there is no crayfish nor lobsters, Fresh Shrimp, Sri Lankan Crabs, Fresh Water Prawns, Pristine Oysters, Green Mussels and New Zealand Oysters will sound tempting to most. However, having ate oysters in a few buffet venue lately, it seems that the oysters offered at Cafe Biz is the largest by far.


The above photos covers about 40% of the buffet section. Though the selection may seems limited to some, do bear in mind that we still have the a-la-carte main course.

Char Grilled Beef Onglet with Sauteed Idaho Potatoes, Caramelized Red Onions and Cafe de Paris Butter

Steamed Seabass with Superior Chinese Herbs, Asian Vegetables and Shitake Mushrooms
The 2 main courses which we tried were the Beef Onglet and the Seabass.
Although I have requested the beef to be served medium well, the meat is not tough at all. The meat was served with char-grilled fragrance and a juicy core. The accompanying potato is lightly salted with a baked skin that compliments perfectly with the meat.

With the use of soy sauce, wolfberry and chinese parsley, the seabass which Fen had, tasted close to a Cantonese steamed fish. The fish is served hot, tender and fresh so Fen has no complain with her choice of main course.


Depending on one's preference, the selection of desserts may be extensive to some but limited to others. Equinox's dessert bar focus lesser on chocolate with selection ranging from Blueberry or Pear crumble, Financier, Berry Mousse, Rose Bavarian Mousse, Soft chocolate Cake with Dry Fruit and Nuts, Peach Tart, Cheesecake and Brownies.


Apart from the cakes, shooter desserts such as Pineapple Compote, Lychee Jus, Apricot with Cream Cheese and Mix Berry Vodka Jus are available for that afternoon.

Lastly, at the other end of the dessert bar, one will be rewarded with chocolate fondue (includes dark, milk and white) and home-made mango sorbet, raspberry sorbet and chocolate ice-cream. Since Movenpick sponsors a fridge for the restaurant, one can expect a flavour or 2 from Movenpick's selection of ice-cream.

Some may find the desserts not cold enough to their liking but when it comes to taste, we were indeed impressed by most of their desserts, particularly the Rose Bavarian Mousse and Pineapple Compote. Rose Bavarian Mousse is light, refreshing and brings out a strong scent of Rose while Pineapple Compote is a good variant to the apple crumble. Butter cookie crumble with vanilla mousse served with a slight sourish pineapple puree.


We were honoured by the opportunity to visit the kitchen whereby Chef Hugh Styles explained to us how to differentiate between home-made and commercial ice creams; and also the effects of emulsifiers on ice-cream. He introduced the PacoJet which does its mixing at 5000 rpm in vacuum. A frozen block of Avocado Cream becomes so velvetly smooth within minutes, leaving us impressed at the end of the demonstration.


Overall it was a excellent experience dining at Equinox. I am looking forward to my second visit.

Just our opinion, if you derive satisfaction from variety in a buffet, we will not recommend Equinox but suggest Melt, The World Cafe or the Line.

However for us, it has come to a point that we don't try everything on the buffet bar and we felt that this is one of our favourite place for hotel buffets, considering there were a few dishes that make us go back for more.

$59++ may sound expensive but do keep in mind that some hotels priced their lunch buffets above $40++ but without the ambience and view this place gets to offer (E.g. Weekday Buffet Lunch @ Melt, The World Cafe - $54++, The Line - $45++, Bar & Billiard Room - $58++, Carousel - $40++, Marriott Cafe - $44++).

For a detailed menu of what Equinox gets to offer, they are available here.

Lastly, many thanks to Herni for helping us to seek approval from the Equinox management to take the photos and we greatly appreciate the warm hospitality and demonstration given by Chef Hugh Styles.

Buffet Lunch Menu with A la Carte Main Course
$59++ (Adults), $29.50++ (6-12 years)
20% discount for Citibank Platinum Card Holders
15% discount for American Express Card Holders.

Equinox Restaurant
Equinox Complex Singapore
2 Stamford Road
70F Swissôtel The Stamford
Singapore 178882
Tel: 6837 3322
Website for Equinox Complex

Lunch Buffet noon to 2:30pm (Monday to Saturday)
Brunch 11am to 2:30pm (on Sundays)
Hi-Tea Buffet 3:30pm to 5pm (Daily)
Dinner 6:30pm to 11pm (Daily)