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COMPASS MAGAZINE, February 2006

THE BASEMENT NIGHTCLUB (04) 2305-8512 429, YingCai (YingTsai) Road, B1 Hours:9 pm-4:30 am 5% service charge.

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--By Douglas Habecker, translated by Jean Huang

Appropriately located underground a few meters from the intersection of YingCai and GongYi roads (kitty-corner from NOVA), The Basement allows patrons to warble through their finest karaoke renditions in an upscale, intimate lounge/nightclub ambiance. Walk past the doorman and down a flight of stairs and you'll enter the large, high-ceilinged premises, with brick walls, very subdued lighting, a long bar and curtained-off sofa seating areas giving the place the feeling of a high-class speakeasy or opium den. Loosely circling a small karaoke stage are four larger cubicles (minimum NT$3,000 bill) seating up to about 10, plus eight more-open sofa areas seating about six (minimum NT$350/person bill)--all on comfortable sofas. The extensive karaoke selections include Chinese, Taiwanese, English, Japanese, Cantonese and Hakka melodies. Those hungry can order from a respectable menu of dishes that includes a number of Thai dishes, like Thai-style Raw Shrimp (NT$220) and Tom Yum Kung soup (NT$250), and other dishes like Indian Curry Chicken (NT$180) or Smoked Duck (NT$220). A big selection of wine, spirits, champagne, cognac, whisky and beers (NT$160-200) is also available by the bottle or glass.