The Full Picture
SaSaZu occupies one of Prague's most remarkable dining spaces: a converted market hall in Holešovice that Chef Shahaf Shabtay transformed into a high-energy, high-style Southeast Asian fusion restaurant. What began in 2009 has evolved into the city's most successful answer to the question of how to feed a group well without sacrificing sophistication or energy.
The restaurant's fundamental proposition is architectural as well as culinary. The space is large—genuinely large, with room for hundred-plus covers—yet it avoids the acoustic and atmospheric problems that plague oversized dining rooms. The soaring market hall ceiling, the industrial bones of the space, the circulation of staff through a choreographed service rhythm, and the evening DJs all create an atmosphere that is simultaneously intimate at your table and electric in the room. You are dining in a crowd, but you are not distracted by it.
The menu is built on sharing plates. This is not a limitation but a feature. Dishes arrive in a sequence designed to move across the table: crispy duck with tamarind glaze, butter chicken that arrives steaming in its own vessel, satay with housemade peanut sauce, pad Thai that is sharp and balanced, grilled seafood that carries the char of its execution. Individual dishes cost 400–600 CZK; a full dinner for two with wine runs to 4,000 CZK, which represents value for the experience, the kitchen, and the venue. Private dining accommodates groups comfortably, and the volume and rhythm of the room mean large parties never feel like they are dining in isolation.
The Southeast Asian technique—the balance of heat, acid, umami, and sweetness—meets Eastern European product in ways that surprise even regular diners. Shabtay sources locally when the ingredient matches his vision; when it doesn't, he imports. The clarity of thinking means you taste both the conviction and the culture in every plate. This is not Prague's Chinese restaurant; this is Prague's best statement about what happens when a serious chef from Israel brings a mastered tradition to Central Europe and decides to stay.
The older SaSaZu location in Old Town is smaller, more tourist-facing, and less successful. The Holešovice original is where the restaurant shows what it is capable of. Come in a group. Come late. Come hungry. The kitchen closes at midnight on weeknights, 1 AM on Friday and Saturday.
Best Occasion Fit
Team Dinner — The Breaking-Down Meal
Team dinners are often exercises in formality. People sit in hierarchical rows. Conversation stays in lanes. The mood is obligation. SaSaZu disrupts all of this. The sharing-plates format forces movement, exchange, and attention. Everyone reaches across the table. Dishes keep coming in sequence. The room's energy—the sound, the movement, the DJ once evening settles—gives the evening momentum rather than weight. The dress code is smart casual, not formal, which signals that this is a celebration rather than a test. The market hall setting becomes a conversation piece before you sit down. This is the Prague team dinner that people ask to repeat.
Birthday — Built for Scale Without Loss of Intimacy
The architecture of the room, the theatrical presentation of dishes, and the atmosphere that shifts toward celebration as the evening progresses—SaSaZu is built for birthdays. The space accommodates large groups comfortably without forcing you into a separate sealed room. The sharing format means the birthday person is not isolated at the head of a table but integrated into a rhythm of courses and conversation. The kitchen will accommodate requests; the staff understand that this is a moment. The room itself is the decoration—no need for balloons or banners. By 10 PM, with the DJ spinning, the energy is precisely what a celebration requires.
Atmosphere & Design
The Holešovice market hall is a late-19th-century industrial structure. Shabtay's intervention was respectful rather than radical: preserve the bones, raise the bar, introduce rhythm. The soaring ceiling, the exposed brick, the scale of the space—these are all original. The lighting is warm without being dim. The bar occupies a prominent position and maintains its own energy throughout the evening. By 10 PM, the DJ's arrival marks a shift; the restaurant moves from dinner to something closer to a celebration. Volume increases. The kitchen accelerates. This is intentional design, not accident.
The must-try list: crispy duck, butter chicken, chicken satay, pad Thai, grilled seafood platter. Order the saké bombs or champagne cocktails. Arrive by 8:30 to secure a good table; after 9, it becomes a scene. The reservation book fills weeks ahead for weekends.
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Diner Reviews
Took 12 colleagues from the office. The sharing format meant everyone was reaching across the table, mixing past the usual silos. The market hall setting genuinely surprised everyone—no one expected Prague to have this kind of energy. The crispy duck was the highlight. We left at midnight having barely noticed the time. Already booked for next quarter.
30th birthday dinner for 20 people. The staff accommodated everything without asking questions twice. The room has exactly the right energy for a celebration—it's large enough to feel special but doesn't feel like a tourist trap despite being well-known. The kitchen sent out extra courses. This is the kind of occasion that becomes a memory.
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