Timbre Group unveils its latest concept
By Mellissa Ang, photos by Clara Lock and Jonathan Wong/Timbre Group
East meets west best describes Switch by Timbre, a new bilingual addition to the list of Timbre group’s live music bars and restaurants, to a tee.
Switch seeks to provide a platform for musicians who are comfortable with performing both English and Chinese songs. With Mandarin-pop taking up majority of the stage time at Switch and Western music taking a backseat, patrons ranging from working adults to students from nearby tertiary institutes are treated to music of dual languages from artistes who perform at Switch.
The dinner crowd starts to file into the laidback restaurant, filled with artistic wall murals by designer Sean Koh and graffiti artist Trase Oner.
At this new-kid-on-the-block launched in the heart of the arts and heritage center of Bras Basah, Music and Marketing Manager Ms Low Seow Yee introduces numerous Switch’s house drinks and “Asian-teased” dishes exclusive to Switch.
With the newly launched iPad interactive menus, patrons can place their orders seamlessly from the technological devices straight to the kitchen.
The time saved from placing orders allows Switch’s service staff to talk to their customers and at the same time, obtain feedback about the food served.
The first to arrive are the house drinks for the night, which revolve around two kinds of tea, oolong tea and assam Tea, mixed to form concoctions like Lylongtea and Rummy Plum.
Lylongtea, a mixture of house whiskey, lychees and oolong tea, is a refreshingly sweet concoction while the Rummy Plum is a mix of house rum, sour plum and assam tea that will whet appetites.
Subsequently, main courses unique to Switch gradually occupy the table.
One noteworthy dish is the herb-crusted snapper with mango curry sauce, with dry shrimps and Japanese furikake seasoning used to create the crusty top layer to the succulent fish beneath.
Served with mashed potato and mango curry sauce on the side, the dish combines the condiments’ saltiness with the tangy flavors on the side.
The crispy chicken pizza is another main course at Switch, using chicken thigh and Thai chili plum sauce to form the thin crust for the pizza along with fried chicken skin and mozzarella cheese as toppings.
While the dish has a KFC-like taste to it, it can be less sinful if the pizza is shared with friends as they are thoughtfully cut into bite-sized pieces.
In the company of friends, good food and music of dual genres, one can have a Timbre experience with a switch to bilingualism like no other.
