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“From the Creators of Lola’s Cafe”
From the folks that brought you the ever-famous and still very much thriving Lola’s Cafe at Kovan, they also present another cafe with a very much similar concept: On The Table. I guess they do what they do best, right?
On The Table displays an affectionate similarity to their sister Cafe Lola, albeit with MUCH improved spaciousness without that narrow walkway and thus way more comforting. Can’t say the same about the waiting times though, which were still comparably long.
On The Table still sees huge throngs of crowds especially during lunch hours, and it really baffles me how the crowds just manage to stream in relentlessly in this nondescriptly located cafe.
Perhaps its due to the tireless crowd, but don’t have high hopes on stellar attentive service. Everything is pretty much self-service and the service staff can be a little too overwhelmed by the huge crowd; hence the long queues.
Also, don’t hog your menu for too long – We were asked to return the menu after a couple of minutes even though we haven’t ordered yet. Geez, one would assume they can afford to print more menus with the amount of business they have.
But let’s go on to the food shall we.
Upon recommendation, we tried their Ultimate Croissant ($13), which consisted of scrambled eggs sandwiched between cheddar cheese, honey-glazed bacon, ham and a crisp, buttery croissant.
It was pretty pleasing, and the honeyed bacon and ham introduced subtle tones of sweetnees and saltiness into the mix. However, it still borders on the average side, at least for me.
Crispy Honey Wings ($10). No dispute here, these are the same wings that earned Lola’s Cafe its never-ending throng of customers. At On The Table, it proves to be a hot favourite as well, occupying the tables of almost all customers.
The honeyed overtones aboard crisp but tender flesh are what gives the chicken wings a pleasant touch. They are not too richly overpowering on taste, such that you can continue eating wing after wing… without stopping… till you realize you can’t walk.
Tomato Swimmer Crab Linguine – Spicy ($16). Sad to say, this dish did not cut it for me. Understandably, it may be enough to qualify as an average meal, but I guess I had higher expectations.
The Linguine was a tad overcooked, and was not fully integrated with the pasta sauce. Their tomato-based pasta sauce was pretty tasty per say, but there was a slight fishy aftertaste to it, perhaps due to the crab meat’s influence. Commendably, they gave a generous portion of crab meat, which I would have appreciated more if more gravy also accompanied along, and the meat was just a tad less heavy on the fishiness.
Blueberry and Lemon Cake ($6). The cake was moist and flavourful enough without fringing on being over-sweetened, which I really enjoyed. The lemon curd also had a zest to it, blended finely for creamier textures.
Finally, for dessert, we tried their Waffles with Baileys & Brownies and Earl Grey Ice Cream (Double scoop: $10). I particularly enjoyed the Earl Grey Ice Cream, with a distinct, robust tea flavour without being too overpowering.
The Bailey’s and Brownies was a little too sweet for me, but hey it’s truly an interesting combination, and if you have a love for coffee liqueur, this dessert would do the trick. Their waffles were both thin and crispy, but had enough chewy bite for it to be well enjoyable. Pretty decent waffles no doubt.
Overall, I would only recommend On The Table if you happen to be around the area or if you live near the Pasir Panjang estate, with a couple of hits and misses typical of overly crowded locales. The signature Crispy Honey Wings is a dish that has still managed to capture our hearts though.
On The Table is only a walking distance from Pasir Panjang MRT, so I would say its well-accessible. Be sure to make your reservations though, as On The Table cafe’s crowd can get quite zealous during lunch times for inexplicable reasons.
Expected Damage: $18 – $28 per pax
