Timbre @ The Row, Jalan Doraisamy
Having spent my university years in Singapore, I am familiar with the name Timbre, which is synonymous with good live music and great drinks. It's also got a surprisingly extensive food menu to make this place the perfect spot to drop by after work for a bite, and stay for the live music and drinks.
Start by ordering from an iPad - because shouting your order to the waiter over the live music is just plain rude. Drinks first, of course. Pick from a myriad of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks (like soft drinks and juices).
We went with a Timbre classic mojito (RM26), which is green beauty that looks as stunning as it tastes.
And a lychee mojito (RM26) because that's Matt's absolute favourite.
The menu has soups, salads, tapas, mains like pastas, pizzas and meats that would make any Western (sized) eater shudder with haunting delight. But, despite the western sounding dishes, Timbre has done a brilliant job at putting a local Malaysian twist on many of their dishes.
We tried their satay beef fries (RM14), a mix of minced beef in a satay peanut sauce atop a generous bed of fries. But they've also got another starter with a local twist - the lamb loin with sambal (RM34).
Pizzas come with a half and half option and you have 14 creative flavours to pick from. Flavours that really stood out on the menu were the roast duck (RM36), yakiniku chicken (RM36), cheeseburger (burger and pizza in one? Yaaaaaassssss) and the Philly cheesesteak (RM40). But the half and half (RM42) we tried was a mix of roast duck, which was really more like Peking duck and crispy caramel anchovies, which they might as well have called a Nasi Lemak pizza because of the resemblance in taste and look.
The portions are sizeable, so I was satiated after the three dishes. But my donut partners are bigger eaters than me, so we also had the black pepper beef spaghetti (RM26). This was a very Chinese rendition of the dish - it tasted very much like a Chinese beef stir fry with the pasta.
The live music came on around 9 - the sound was a bit fuzzy so I didn't quite catch the band's name (I think it was Effy?). But they were pretty great. Loved the keyboardist's vocals when he covered Better Man. And I especially liked the vocalist's rendition of Nat King Cole's Love.
Timbre @ The Row, Jalan Doraisamy