Nice and soft, like food (9)
I believe the answer is:
palatable
'nice' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'soft like food' is the wordplay.
'soft' becomes 'p' (musical abbreviation for piano, 'soft').
'like' becomes 'a la' ('a la' can mean 'in the way of' in French).
'food' becomes 'table' (table is a kind of food).
'p'+'ala'+'table'='PALATABLE'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for palatable that I've seen before include "Pleasant to the taste, acceptable" , "Tasty" , "pleasing" , "good to eat" , "Of food, tasting nice; of idea, acceptable" .)