Dining, Travelling & Living: King Ludwig Beerhall -- A Day At Stanley

Stanley Bay
Image from Locky's English Playground

A gorgeous day with cool sea breeze and an azure sky, best for driving and German food. After 30 mins of driving, my family and I arrived at Stanley. It was convenient enough to find free parking space by the roadside as it was a weekday, but the price to pay was some really hot car seats.

Murray House
Image from Locky's English Playground

Stanley is a really beautiful place, a place where modern blends with tradition, the Western blends with the Eastern so naturally that faults are difficult to spot. Take for example the Tin Hau Temple and the Murray House, practically neighbours, do not steal the limelight of one another.

Murry House on the left and Tin Hau Temple straight ahead, food arcade on the right
Image from Locky's English Playground

Palm trees on both sides of a long open path gradually unfolds the main entrance of the Tin Hau Temple.

Tin Hau Temple
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It is not grand like the Po Lin Monastery, not gold plated like many temples of Thailand, even the lion statues are not particularly large, but the absence of incense ash and the presence of bright colours which rarely associates with Chinese temples transmit a sense of tidiness and Zen, reflecting the importance of the temple to the villagers of Stanley.

An amazingly obedient golden retriever, waiting for the master outside
a restaurant on the 1st floor of Murry House
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With a stomach full of nothing, we made our way to Shop 202, 2/F of Murray House. I have heard the name and quality of this German restaurant from many of my students, but never had the chance to try it out until now.

Indoor panorama
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The interior design spares no expense. Every piece of wood, every light bulb and every barrel plays a key to the transformation to this beerhall. 

Great atmosphere
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Could there be some sophisticated mathematical calculations in the arrangement of the furnitures?

Reserved table
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The reserved table really does look like one of those mini-slightly-Viking dining room, and would make a cosy corner for a fireplace dinner gathering with friends and family, but on a fine day, it is probably the last resort.

Beautiful lamps
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Then where are the best seats?

View from the balcony
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The balcony!!! Where else can you have such an amazing view?

Lager Beer
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Onto the food.

King Ludwig's Pork Knuckle
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The signatures include this crunchy golden King Ludwig's Pork Knuckle, which is on every table. Despite the wonderful look of it, the skin is way too tough and thick for my jaws, but the meat is tender smooth and lean. The taste is not as vibrant as the Chinese roasted pork, however I suppose the two pork dishes are prepared using the same part of the animal, thus it is not a fair comparison so to speak.

King Ludwig's Pork Knuckle
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The fried potatoes side dish was so delicious by the way, so don't miss it. Coleslaw, they were okay.

Sausage Sampler
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More fried potatoes made Locky a happy person, sausages sampler on the other hand, tasted like sausages, needless to say.

Creamy buttery potatoes
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The sausage sampler also comes with buttery creamy potatoes. If you ask me though, I will save my room of my stomach for the fried ones.

The Boathouse
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So that was it! That's all the good food we tried. I am sure there are more, as listed in the official website, nonetheless, we were all too full eating all those potatoes, we couldn't try any more and had to go for a long walk.

Stanley Market Road
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The walk was my first in Stanley, as much as I cannot believe myself, having lived in Hong Kong for so many years. The surrounding was pretty, kind of like Paris riverside plus Amsterdam while ruined by red taxis.

Shopping Lane
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The shops sell various Hong Kong souvenirs tailored for westerners ranging from surprisingly reasonable to low prices. I was expecting all kinds of rip-off until I was proven wrong with my own eyes! There are garments for sale that even I will consider buying if I were a tourist, impressive!

Blake Pier at Stanley
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If you happen to have time in the weekends, do pay a visit to Stanley!


Vocabulary:
steal the limelight -- to get more attention than anyone or anything else in a situation:


Resources:
King Parrot Group : King Ludwig Beerhall
http://www.kingparrot.com/restaurants.php?tab=signature&id=15&bid=21

Culture & Academic Research: Historic Buildings, What Are They Really? @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2013/09/culture-academic-research-historic.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/steal-the-limelight