If you walk by the entrance twice, wander up an anonymous flight of stairs to meet the smell of a family dinner wafting down the hall, you’re close to discovering a new hidden gem in downtown.

While the Upper Room, an intimate new music venue, is difficult to find, it’s worth the hunt.

“This is a warm and welcome place,” said organizer Katrina Ong. “If you’re looking for community, you can get it here.”

The performance hall is lit from strings of lights that hang down from the ceiling. A circle of outdated couches form a semi-circle around the bands.

Cutouts of black song birds cover a red wall and fly toward a backdrop made with an old window.

Worn wood floors play into the room’s rich and full sound, making the venue a musician’s reprieve from the Seattle nightlife.

During the week the space plays host to a church, International Christian Center (ICC), started by Katrina’s father Daniel.

However, the Upper Room is about community, Katrina said.

Since the Upper Room opened about six months ago, only about two bands have played religious music, Katrina said.

The 21-year-old spends much of her time hanging out with up-and-coming Seattle musicians, where she often recruits.

“I’m picky about the bands I let play here,” she said, wearing a blue patterned dress, flats and a nose ring.

Like Katrina, most of the audience is in its 20s or 30s. The music is mostly indy and folk rock.

On a busy night, three full bands will perform 30-minute sets and about 100 people will pack the room.

Between performances, guests wander to the back kitchen for a cup of coffee and a snack.

On a slow night about 40 people listened methodically to two soloists hammer out smooth and passionate voices.

“It’s nice to have a captive audience,” said singer and songwriter Kaylee Cole, adding that she’s used to playing at noisy bars where she competes with an audience often more interested in drinking.

“It seems like a community, family thing, and that’s how music should be,” she said.

Daniel and wife Connie try to make the musicians feel respected, even preparing a family-style meal before the show, Katrina said.

A native Malaysian, Daniel loves to cook foods from home. The smell of curry and naan filled a back room and wafted down the hallway.

How the bands behave on stage is also important. Katrina watches the musicians perform in public before asking them to come, she said.

“It’s a clean place for families to get away at night,” Daniel said.

Daniel met Connie, an American missionary child, in Malaysia. They traveled the world evangelizing and landed in Ghana for about nine years as missionaries.

When their oldest son was approaching his senior year in high school, the Ongs sent him to Tacoma to adjust to American culture before college. Eventually the family followed.

Daniel was driving through Renton about two years ago, when he felt called to plant a church, he said. “God wanted us to be here.”

ICC started meeting at the Clarion Hotel in Renton, before moving into the new space on South Third Street in August 2009.

Daniel always liked the idea of using the church to host a coffee shop or open mic night, he said leaning back in a green couch.

Katrina took the idea into a different direction.

Music is something that attracts people, he said.

“My goal is to have people come downtown,” Katrina said. “I treat this as a community event instead of a music venue.”