Tag Archive for Birthday

My Birthday Celebration at Equinox

Well we had decided to schedule a family birthday dinner (with my mum and dad) at a nice restaurant in Singapore – so we decided to do a brunch at Equinox within the Swissôtel The Stamford (City Hall) – which also allows me to utilise my Far Card discount card – which results in 20% of food (as we had 5-10 adults), and 25% of drinks. My aunt and cousin also decided to come across, and I invited my girlfriend too – so there was 6 of us in total.

The Sunday Brunch at the Equinox was pretty good – a great location at the 74th floor of the Swissôtel The Stamford, and we did certainly enjoy the Singapore views from up above.

As it was the last Sunday of the month, there was a Pink theme to the brunch – so the usual Brunch price of $158++ per person was increased to $178++ per person – but with unlimited Moët & Chandon Rosé Impérial, house red or white wines, specialty cocktails and a selection of beers (instead of the classic Moët & Chandon Impérial). Anyway, I tried to get the normal price, as I wasn’t really keen to go pink for my birthday, but they said there was no choice as it was a special pink theme. Anyway, at least I would get a discount about 1/5 off (with the Far Card), so it wasn’t all bad.

The food was pretty good – however, the selection was as good as a couple of hour brunch places (St Regis and Mandarin Oriental seemed to be better), but it was still very tasty and very enjoyable!

What was a dampener was the Roast Beef, a couple of us got a couple of slices and we tucked in, however, there was this really funny taste too – as if it the meat was rotten or gone off. I am not sure why, but never smelt or tasted beef as bad as this. Anyway, I went to speak to the chef servicing the hot meat table, and he summounded the head chef, whilst we waited, we enjoyed the rest of the meal. After a few minutes, we noticed that head chef came, tasted the meet, and then took the whole slab of meet away back to the kitchen, whilst they replaced it with another (which tasted far better). The Equinox restaurant manager then came to speak with us, and apologised for this and stated it must have been the supplier etc. I explained that unfortunately it doesn’t matter, as it is the Swissôtel was the one cooking and serving it to the public. Anyway, we relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the meal and then we requested the bill.

After a few minutes, the bill arrived, but there was nothing provided as a gesture due to the off meat. I asked to speak to the restaurant manager and asked him that they should offer something as a way of apologising, he asked me what I wanted, and I told him that it was for him to determine. He agreed and I left for them to consider the offer. After a while the he came back and returned my Amex credit card and stated that the meal was on him – wow! That was not what I was expecting, but I felt it was a great gesture, albeit too much to accept. He apologised again for the issues with the meat, and the F&B also turned up to offer an explanation and also apologised – I did state that all it required was for one customer to complain to the NEA, and they would come and shut down the place – so I sense they realised the severity of it. I just hope no one gets ill because of this – as I know there was other tables eating the meat.

I accepted the offer, but did give about $200 tip for the servicing staff, as I know it wasn’t there fault and they would not receive any service tip from our table otherwise. He accepted it, and said he will make sure the staff received it.

It was a bit of a weird birthday meal – but unfortunately, these things do happen. At least they did the honourable thing and accepted the issue – at the same time, we made quite a saving off the whole meal – wow! What a birthday meal that was!

Swissôtel The Stamford
Equinox Restaurant
2 Stamford Road
Singapore 178882
Tel: +65 6338 8585
Reservations: +65 6837 3322
URL: http://www.equinoxrestaurant.com.sg

Crab in the Bag – Dan’s Birthday Dinner (13th Sept)

What a nice place to enjoy a dinner meal with a difference. I’ve heard of this place, but never been here before – so when I arrived at East Coast Parkway, at the Big Splash.

It was a great concept – it all starts with them preparing your table with a paper table cloth…but the twist is that they don’t provide any cutlery or plates. What you actually do is order Fish et Co in a Bucket…and they then serve it in the same bucket, and they then tip the contents (luckily, cooked!) onto the table top for you all to tuck in. Sauces and other sides are then delivered in little disposable cups.

Crab in Da Bag
Block D Unit #01-25
902 East Coast Parkway
Big Splash
Singapore, 449874
Tel: +65 6440 0083
URL: http://www.crabindabag.com

Birthday Drinks at Wine Connection Rob Quay (2nd Aug)

A great group of people always make for a great birthday celebration, so we went to the Wine Connection in Robertson Quay, to have a few wines and bevvies and food – to celebrate a fab mate’s birthday…what a young man he is 🙂

After a few drinks, some grub and a birthday cake, we decided to continue the night (the night was still young!), and ended up at Fern and Kiwi – which is actually one of the nicer of the bars in Clarke Quay. The night continued with drinking and dancing, and more drinking, followed by more dancing.

I decided to leave around 1.30am, as I was getting sooo sleepy … seems I do struggle doing these type of sessions now…maybe it is the lack of practice 🙂 But it sure was a great night!

Halloween and Glenn’s Birthday Party

Well it might have been a few days after Halloween (31st October), but a friend had arranged a dual Halloween and his Birthday party for 2nd November. And to mark such a occasion, it was a fancy dress one 🙂

I had been searching for a costume for a while – and didn’t really want to spend over the top, so after a few visits to a few places, I found one In Toa Payoh, it was called Number 1 Costume and was a huge place in one of the business units, but I just didn’t find one that I liked. I then decided to get a last minute purchase at another place in North Bridge Road, called Global Mascot – this place had a few costume sets all wrapped up, and I decided to get one of these. Only cost me S$50 as well, and yes I know – you get what you paid for. Last time I dressed as a Grim Reaper, so this year I brought one which was meant to have been a Vampire, but personally, it was quite poor, and the cloak didn’t have the proper attachments to hook onto my shoulders, so I ended with tape, which didn’t stay for long :(. Hey-ho, it was worth a shot!! Moral of the story, spend more effort to select a good costume, more time planning, and spend a bit more money to get a better quality and more complete costume!!

There is always next year … eek!!

Birthday Drinks – Five Izakaya Bar

After a whole day on the road and visiting Amex merchant customers, what better way to celebrate my birthday, by adding the birthday drinks after the event.

It started with a few ‘free’ drinks at the end of the ROWAS event at the Fullerton, after the barrels (tab) ran dry, we moved onto Five Izakaya which was pretty nearby, and we continued drinking away.

It was a funny session, as there was a see of Amex tops throughout the venue – we usually had about 7 tables, and the best thing is that I knew the large majority of the people here.  So I ended up going around, drinking, toasting the night, celebrating my birthday and chatting away…

A fabulous night – and it was good to have some many friendly faces out from work!

Five Izakaya Bar
16 Collyer Quay
Singapore 049318
Tel: +65 6536 8955
URL: http://www.fivebar.sg

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