Bid Goodbye to CrazyWorld Cafe, Say Hello to TABLE 24

After a major revamp, what used to be CrazyWorld Cafe at Temple Street is now Table 24. The trasnformation is more than skin deep, the couple Edgar and Florence, together with their old friend Richard who is the head chef, have made it more upscale with a totally new, refreshing direction by serving a list American cuisine.

The Mayday crazy couple Edgar and Florence used to run CrazyWorld Cafe which is an integrated retail section for local designs, and a live house concept hosting ticketed showcases for local musicians and artistes. The concept proved very popular but they were lacking an expertise in providing good food and thus the cafe proved to be less than sustainable for the causes that we sincerely wanted to support.

It was early this year, just after they had decided to close CrazyWorld Cafe, that their friend Richard informed them that he was returning to Singapore, and they found that the perfect opportunity to relaunch and rebrand the space, to focus on offering good food while at the same time, maintaining a venue for CrazyWorld on Sundays to continue with our work to promote independent music.

Richard has worked at fine dining estalishments in America, serving Southern American cuisine, Italian and European cuisine and more. Bring the ideas back to Singapore, Table 24 features tastes of classic American, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Asian with a focus on providing quality food that is healthy, affordable and sustainable, in a dining environment that is homely, comfortable, casual and non pretentious.

Our dinner started with French oyster which is shucked to order. It is creamy and fresh, tastes great with the tangy lime and tarragon mignonette.

Hamachi Tatare ($11) is served with avocado, wasabi tobiko, dijon, cornichorns, pickled garlic, homemade chips. It still has its creamy-sweet taste and the homemade chips are really addictive.

Pan-seared Hokkaido Scallops ($14) are firm and naturally sweet. It is soft to cut through but retaining a good bite, and brushed with herbs, brown butter-balsamic, vidalia, fennel, pink peppercorn. The use of corn polanta is a very lovely touch.

Maryland-style Crab cakes ($25) uses pacific blue crab and they are moist and well-seasoned. The crab cakes are served with remoulade, fig balsamic, sweet peppers, leeks, seasonal green.

We had the Pan roasted Farm Raised Salmon ($24) as my main for the night. A whole, generous piece of moist salmon fillet is served with an excellent farro-risotto, local spianch, shitake, port toamto paste, fennel, vidalia, taro. The pesto risotto gives an interesting take to the otherwise naturally richly flavoured salmon with a savoury herbed blend. Decent!

I love S’mores ($9)! This American classic is everyone’s favorite childhood treat! They probably have gotten their name from frequent requests for. It is basically graham crackers with melted marshmallows, macadamia, raspberry compote, chocolate-cayenne ganache. We also had Pot de Creme ($9) which is simply a cup of latte to me. The name of this delicate dessert comes from the small lidded porcelain pots in which the desserts are traditionally baked.

I really love the interior of the restaurant which has a quirky mix of mismatched chairs with nostalgic cassette recorders on one wall and modern looking bowls on the other. The food at Table 24 are decent but there wasn’t a very strong dish to make it stand out from other restaurants. I don’t mind dropping by again if I am in Chinatown and in need for some quiet space to chill out with my friends. One thing to note is, the restaurant currently only serves dinner and has recently launched a late night menu which is available from 9pm to 1030pm.

Table 24
Address: 24 Temple Street
Tel: 6225 9925
Opening Hours: Mon ~ Thu: 5pm to 11pm; Fri/Sat/PH Eve 5pm to 12am
Website: http://www.table24.sg