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by Douglas Habecker

Almost anyone who's traveled through Thailand, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries has become very familiar with, and perhaps fond of, the typical restaurant/pub hang-outs that have proliferated wherever there are foreign visitors.

We're talking here about wooden, open-air dining areas and bars, bordered by tropical plants and other greenery, perhaps a small stage for live music and plenty of neon alcohol signs. Such places can be pleasant places to while away the time during the warm tropical evenings, over a good meal and a few drinks.

While urban Taichung is a long ways from the beaches and jungles of Southeast Asia, it does boast an establishment that provides an almost-identical look and feel to it, right down to the cuisine. That place is Sasaya Food and Music Paradise, located on a open stretch of property directly at the end of the Shuinan Airport runway. With plenty of greenery, wooden dining pavilions sprawling across the grounds and a main open-air covered area with oval bar, plenty of tables and a small stage, Sasaya is a perfect evening hang-out for the warmer months.  The lack of any significant buildings nearby completes the image. One added novelty that customers will quickly become aware of are the airplanes which sporadically roar in a few meters overhead.

Sasaya is no newcomer to Taichung, having started business a couple years ago.  However, its menu has been revised over time to reach its current combination of Southeast Asian and local Chinese cuisine. The latest menu is in Chinese only but the staff keeps a copy of the old English menu around and can show foreigners which dishes are available and which are not.

The non-Chinese dishes are a mixed bag of Thai, Singaporean and Malaysian favorites.  This includes the Nasi Goreng and Mee Goreng (Malay-style fried rice and noodles, respectively), Sotong Pedas (cuttlefish), Thai-style fried beef (NT$260) and chicken (NT$295), steamed lemon shrimp, Thai-style coconut chicken (NT$260), Char Kway-Teow (fried Thai-style wide noodles), and Bak Kuet The, a Singaporean stew with various traditional herbs.  Another favorite, the Thai Tom Tom Yam soup, can be had by prior reservation.

There are a wide variety of other usual Chinese dishes and limited quantities of Japanese sashimi (when it runs out, that's it for the evening). There are NT$3,000-NT$6,000 10-dish, one-table set meals (for 10 people) available, too. According to the management, there will be nightly free barbecues from 6 to 9 p.m., starting in April. Diners can help themselves and prepare their own at a barbecue grill in the garden area.

There are plenty of drinks to choose from, including beers, costing from NT$120 per bottle up to NT$900 for a 4,000 cc San Miguel keg.  From April, there will be a buy-three-get-one-free deals on beers. On Saturdays from 10 p.m. to midnight, foreign customers can get Buds and Heinekens for NT$100 per bottle. Cocktails are NT$150 and there are sodas, milk teas and juices averaging about NT$100.

Overall, one of the best things about Sasaya is simply its great atmosphere, which provides a retreat from the city, the illusion that one is on a tropical island (versus a sub-tropical one) somewhere far away, and a perfect way to spend a relaxing summer night.