Best place in the city for work, food and drinks.

Patriarch's Ponds is an affluent residential area, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the city. It dates back to at least the 17th century when Patriarch Ioakim, the eleventh Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia was settled here. The Patriarch Ponds area (locals simply call it “Patriki”) is the main gourmet center of Moscow, both for tourists and locals. From small coffee corners and secret pubs to posh restaurants and trendy bars – here surrounding the green oasis of Patriarch Ponds park you can find anything you want. The most interesting places are located on Malaya Bronnaya street and its side streets – and all this is just a 10-minute walk from Mayakovskaya metro station.

A brand new business district called Belaya Ploshad (White Square) built around an early 20-century old-believers' church. Old believers are a fundamentalist sect that's split from the official Orthodox Church in 17 century. Many prominent Russian tsarist-era businessmen were from the old-believers' background. During Soviet era, this church was desecrated, then, in the 1990s, returned to an old-belivers' community and renovated. A good example of Moscow contrasts - a fundamentalist church (with a Facebook page) and modern office blocks next door. Plus - on the other side of Belaya Ploshad there is Belorussky Station Square - a large intersection with an endless construction site, a railway station, full of dirt, primitive street trade, homeless, and... nice cafes.

Russia's oldest botanic garden was founded by Peter the Great in 1706 to grow medicinal plants. "Aptekarsky" means "apothecary" in Russian. There are a lot of cafes and restaurants near the botanical garden.

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.