With the introduction of Timbre, you can now sate both desires in one fell scoop. Opened a few months ago along the newly-minted hipster enclave, The Row (formerly known as Asian Heritage Row), Timbre is a chain of Singaporean venues with a reputation for serving up the best live music in the city state.

With their first Malaysian outpost, co-founders Edward Chia and Danny Loong are hoping to recreate the magic across the border. Interestingly, the two have actually been on the lookout for a Malaysian venue for the past 10 years and even came to check out Asian Heritage Row a decade ago.

“Back then, it wasn’t quite what we were looking for. It’s changed a lot. When the new developers took over, it became the right space,” says Chia.

Timbre has become known for its off-beat location choices, so much so that Chia said if they were to roll out a Timbre outlet in a shopping mall, people would think it very weird!

“When it came to Malaysia, we wanted something similar as well. What we like about The Row is that there is a certain modernisation to it, but also a certain preservation,” says Chia.

The two spent RM700,000 to put together the first Malaysian Timbre and it’s definitely been money well spent. The eatery is large and spacious with an equal combination of low and high tables, and interesting additions like acoustic panels to mitigate the echo effect.

If you look closely at the columns in the venue, you’ll notice they’ve been stuffed with cork wood to absorb the sound, so it doesn’t bounce around too much.

Although aesthetics are important to Chia and Loong, everything ultimately has to serve a purpose.

Like the venue’s bar tables. Unlike conventional bar tables which are often so small there’s barely enough space to lift food into your mouth without also jamming your elbow into the face of the person next to you, Timbre’s bar top tables are wide and accommodating, allowing for plenty of space to comfortably fit drinks and food.

All the tables have two built-in drawers, one that stocks cutlery and another that has an iPad with the full menu, so you can order food without the hassle of hailing a waiter.

Although Timbre advertises itself as a “live music restaurant”, you can’t help wondering if music and food can truly be successful soul mates.

How many times have you been to a bar or pub and thought the music was fab but the food was a flop or vice versa?

One always suffers at the expense of the other and few outlets are able to claim victory in both areas.

Loong agrees and says, “I know what you mean because sometimes it’s just a bar or a pub and there’s food on the side. But food is very important here.”

And you’ll find out just how important when you first glimpse the menu, which is stocked with all sorts of tapas as well as Timbre’s signature thin crust pizzas.

Some of the items on the menu, like the Chilli, Cilantro and Coconut Cream Mussels (RM23) have been specially created for the Malaysian Timbre and are not available on the Singaporean menu.

This deliciously creamy, slightly spicy mussel offering is the perfect introduction to the venue’s culinary abilities. The portion of blackshell mussels is generous and properly cooked, with spicy coconut cream soup that is rich, sumptuous and so addictive, you’ll find yourself doing an Oliver: “Please sir, can I have some more?”

While the mussels soar, the Brochette of Beef Brisket (RM30) takes a dip. The menu advertises it as a “tender” beef brisket but the brisket I get is tough-as-nails and extremely hard to chew.

Thankfully, salvation arrives in the form of the restaurant’s much-heralded thin-crust pizzas.

The Crispy Caramel Anchovies Pizza (RM30) is specially crafted for local spice aficionados and features lots of crispy sweet anchovies on a sambal base, with sautéed red onion, pineapple, melted mozzarella cheese and cucumber. Over that is drizzled aioli.

Some of the components may seem like strange bedfellows, but let me assure you that it all works beautifully, and you’ll find yourself reaching for slice after slice, calories be damned.

The Cheeseburger Pizza (RM39) is very interesting and basically features all the flavours you would typically find in a cheeseburger, except that in this case, it’s mounted atop pizza dough.

It’s a strange, revelatory experience eating this, almost like a psychological experiment where your senses are tested. It seems so wrong to eat a cheeseburger that’s really a pizza, but then you keep asking yourself – how can something so wrong taste so good?

The only downer in the pizza selection is the Roasted Duck Pizza (RM36). Apparently a best-seller in Singapore, this particular pizza hasn’t done quite as well on the home front and it’s not hard to see why.

It’s like a deconstructed Peking roast duck wrapped in thin popiah skin, and features a cast of characters that includes roasted duck breast, sautéed shiitake mushrooms with hoisin sauce topped with mozzarella cheese and crispy popiah skin.

It sounds promising on paper, but doesn’t quite work as well in reality – the duck is a tad too sweet and the crispy popiah skin curls are distracting and not that nice to eat either.

Interestingly, you are allowed to mix-and-match your favourite pizzas, which means you can order half portions of different pizzas to make up a whole.

For mains, feast on the Citrus Crusted King Salmon (RM47). Served with a beetroot puree, sautéed asparagus and lemon chive butter sauce, this is an example of a dish where everything works. The salmon is cooked and seasoned perfectly and the acidity from the citrus scattered on top offers bright bursts of flavour. Plus, that beetroot puree is really good!

The main idea at Timbre is to eat, drink and be merry. No, seriously, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do – enjoy a good meal and listen to good live music.

According to Loong, there will even be a series of live music sessions called Malaysia Originals that basically features up-and-coming and barely established local artistes who write their own songs. This is in line with Timbre’s plan to develop support for songwriters.

Also on the live music front, expect to be in for some surprises. Because guess who performed at the Timbre launch? Dato’ Sri Idris Jala, that’s who!

And in case you’re wondering, the man can sing like a rock god and has some mad guitar skills to boot. I’ve never seen anything like it from a politician (now the coolest Malaysian politician in my books), and I doubt you have either – at least not at any other music venue in town.

While I’m not sure Idris Jala will be making regular appearances, you can rest assured other equally talented singers, bands and songwriters will (from Wednesday through Saturday).

So if you’re looking for a great place to eat, relax and unwind to good music, Timbre hits all the right notes.