Great place! Minimalist design, good ambient music, helpful staff. Very delicious food, This isn't Russian cuisine, or Scandinavian, or any kind of national cookery. The dishes have been created by the restauranteurs.

Red October is a former industrial area in central Moscow that's included a chocolate factory Red October, hence the name. Today it's one of the most flamboyant altough inconveniently located cultural quarters, full of art galleries, bars, fashion stores, a design school, night clubs and edtiorial offices of magazines. The photo (depicting a rather typical business redevelopment on the other shore of the Moskva River) was taken from a terrace that's part of the editorial office of Bolshoi Gorod magazine for which I have the privilege to photograph from time to time.

If you want to get a real idea of what is Russia about, just go a bit to the surrealistic outskirts of Moscow and it will be your adventure for this day...

TSUM - the signature fashion department store of Russia - has been a historic sight and the symbol of fashion in Moscow for more than 110 years. TSUM has made its name in Russia and in the world by its expertise in fashion buying. With its 70,000 square meters, it is the largest department store in Eastern Europe. It offers ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories collections of the world’s leading fashion brands including Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Celine, Gucci, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Dior, Kiton, Brioni, Ermenegildo Zegna, Tom Ford, Alexander McQueen, Prada, Fendi etc.; jewellery and watches by Rolex, Patek Philippe, Hublot, Chopard, Garrard, Graff, Mikimoto etc.; porcelain and glass by Baccarat, Bernardaud, Christofle, Lalique, Daum, as well as perfumery and cosmetics of the leading brands.

Strogino is a remote residential neibourhood on the northwest end of Moscow, famous for its greenery, water space and barbecue. My good friends, photographers Anastasia Tsayder and Petr Antonov live here. The picture was taken from their balcony. Their place is known as 'photohostel' as many visiting photographers stay with them when they stop over in Moscow.