Paulaner Brauhaus

In the basement of the Kempinski hotel (entrance on the corner from the street. Couldn't find a way in from the hotel) is German bierhaus oasis in downtown Dalian. You can only drink so much Tsingtao and eat so many noodles so why not take a break from breakneck, crazy China and step into an authentic German bier hall. The place is cavernous with a huge number of tables and the brewery works snaking about the ceiling in attractive copper pipes. They have three taps of their own locally brewed beer, a dark beer, a light beer and a hefeweizen. They taste a little different from their German cousins but still blow away any of the local competition. They also have other Paulaner varieties in bottles. We didn't eat but were impressed by the extensive German menu. The prices are high for China (but reasonable for Germany!) and include a service charge (hey! No fair!).