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  1. OK, round 2 of my Moscow tips. So, you’ve made it safely to your hotel & hopefully it’s near some civilisation. What’s next? Find a beer or food of course. As far as bars go, there are many all over the city centre. It depends on your preferred poison as to where you want to go. I prefer craft beer, and let me tell you, Moscow is crawling with craft beer bars in all shapes and sizes. Many of these have a list behind the bar, so you just ask for the number corresponding to what you want. In the majority of these bars, most of the beers are listed in English, but there are some that stick to the Cyrillic, which can make things more of a lottery. Many of these bars only sell beer or cider, no hard liquor. This is because it is much easier to get a license selling beer only and no spirits. Measures are usually 400ml, (sometimes 500ml) but quite often in the craft beer bars they drop to 300ml, 250ml or very occasionally even less. This seems to be more to keep the beers in a similar price band rather than based on the strength. I’ve seen 10% beers sold in 400ml measures alongside 250ml of a session IPA at 3.5%. Many bars have a great selection of bottles & cans in fridges. Be careful though, some of these can be eye wateringly expensive. A word of warning about beer strength, most craft beers start at about 6% and go up to 14%, 15% or even higher. Many of them don’t necessarily taste that strong and go down very easily. I am well aware that there is a big section of the TA that only drink lager. Most craft bars will sell at least one lager. However, go to any of the Irish bars, or more standard bars and you will find the usual international culprits. Guinness can be had in most normal bars, as can various English, Belgian & German beers. As for Scottish beers I haven’t seen Tennents anywhere though, Brewdog (Punk IPA) can quite often be found on draft as can Belhaven. As far as prices go, like any city there are cheaper and more expensive alternatives. The craft bars start at around 250 RUB for a glass and go up to about 400 RUB for the more esoteric/foreign beers. If you go to a normal bar, prices start at 400/450 RUB and top out at around 600 RUB. Very cheap carry outs can be had in the many supermarkets you will see dotted around town. Azbuka/Magnolia/Perekrestok are some of the more common ones. You can pick up a bottle of lager for 50 RUB in many places. There is only one drawback with all supermarkets and offies, though, and that is they will not sell you any alcohol to take away after 11pm. There are a few bars around that sell beer to go in 500ml or 1000ml plastic bottles. You often get the chance to try before you buy and prices can be very reasonable. As confirmed in my previous post, most bars will take contactless payments. Many of them are not so good at giving out change and will ask for smaller notes, or even give you a piece of paper with IOU written on it. I’ve never had any problems with short change, but I don’t drink in the trendy bars. Quite a lot of the craft beer bars do not do food, but several of them do. However, one of the best places to go for a food and beer experience is on of the big food courts. There are two main ones. The first is Вокруг света (Vokrug Sveta) on Boulevard Nikitskaya. That’s one of the main central tourist streets leading off from Red Square going up to Lubyanka. It’s near the top end. Thee are 25 different international food outlets as well as a large central bar. The food ranges from Chinese, Italian, burgers, seafood, Indian, Russian, to Georgian, steaks, Hawaiian and so on. If the bar is busy, most of the food outlets have a limited supply of beer as well. This is on of the cheaper places to buy beer, a pint of lager was 220 RUB last time I looked. There is also an Irish bar one floor up which can be entered via stairs or an escalator from within the food court. Prices for food start at about 300 RUB. Most of the outlets have English menus, but you have to sometimes ask. You will most likely be give a buzzer which will ring when your food is ready. The other food court I mentioned is Depo. It’s a bit further out, east of Belorusskaya Metro station. It’s on a far bigger scale (apparently the biggest food court in Europe). I find the food here better, but a bit pricier. There is also a better choice of beer in in Right Hops bar. The whole place can get a bit confusing and it’s easy to lose your way, but well worth going for the experience. As far as eating out goes, there is plenty of cheap food to be had. The Russian for Restaurant in PECTOPAH. That’s in Cyrillic, and you will see signs everywhere. There are quite a few restaurant chains around. Food is rarely very high quality, but it is not often very bad either. Many places do business lunches at varying times between 12-4. Some have a special menu, others give a 20% or more discount. You sometimes have to ask for the business menu, but they understand that term. One thing to realise when eating out is that food very often does not come out all at once if there are more than one of you eating. It doesn’t even necessarily come out in the order you would expect. Just live with it, there’s no point in making a fuss if your chips come 20 minutes before your main course. I’ve seen everyone finish their meal while still waiting for one person to get theirs. Another thing to realise is that portions are not always as big as back home. It’s starting to get cold in Moscow and people are starting to wear coats again. Some of you will even have coats! Almost all restaurants have a cloakroom. These are almost always free. Many places will insist you hand your coat in. Just go with the flow and do it. So where would I recommend to eat? The two food courts I mentioned are great. Le Pain Quotidien do OK business lunches, as do Piazzola (don’t order the potato pizza though, it’s disgusting). There is a Lebanese restaurant 15/17 on Bol'shoy Cherkasskiy Pereulok, 15/17 does a great business lunch. Usually a soup or salad, a kebab of some sort in lavash bread and a soft drink. The business lunch is about 550 RUB but is only in Russian. The staff may be able to translate, depending who’s on. Do try some Georgian food, there is a good restaurant next door to 15/17. As far as fast food goes the chain My My (pronounce Moo Moo) does a self serve buffet as does Obed Buffet & Grabli. There are two huge coffee chains in Moscow Coffee House (Кофе Хауз) & Shokoladnitsa (Шоколадница). Meals cost 300 RUB for breakfast up to 600 for lunch or dinner. I don’t use them, but I mention them as you will see them everywhere. The former offers a wide selection of drinks (coffee, tea, cocktails), desserts, pastry (pancakes, oladyi small thick pancakes or fritters common in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian cuisines, syrniki, croissants), ice cream, toast, and sandwiches. Breakfast, lunch and dinner options are available. However, the choice of meals for lunch and dinner is rather small, since this is a coffeehouse. of Shokoladnitsa offers a wide selection of main courses, including a few types of soup and main courses with meat, poultry and fish, as well as pasta off. The usual MacDonald’s, Burger King, KFC can also be found everywhere. There are also burger bars everywhere as these are all the rage. My favourite chain is Hishnik, but you also see Farsh, BB&Burgers & Burger Heroes amongst others. I have yet to find a decent Indian restaurant in Moscow. There have been one or two passable ones, but they are now closed. However, they do not really do spicy food here. Their version of vindaloo is usually just a bit warmer than mild. There is an Indian stall in Вокруг света that does a few dishes, and he will make it hot of you ask, but the heat just comes from a scoosh out of a bottle with chilli sauce. If anyone finds one, do feed back to me. Another thing to beware of is that wine is generally not cheap in Moscow. In some restaurants it starts at a tenner for a 150ml glass of wine, then goes up very quickly. Bottled water can also work out more expensive than beer. Ask for local bottled water, it is generally much cheaper, but they normally automatically give you the expensive European stuff if you don’t. I haven’t given a rundown of bars yet. Let me start with the obvious Irish ones with mass appeal. There is Connolly Station, a huge two floor bar at 8 Pereulok Stoleshnikov. Only downside it is up a flight of stairs. Next door there is a Coyote Ugly (or there was last time I looked) if that’s your thing. Others are Mandy’s Apothecary on Ulitsa Kuznetskiy Most; Silver’s Irish Pub, Nikitskiy Pereulok (There is another further out of town. Then of course there is Papas where Tam ids doing his thing. It’s at the top end of Boulevard Nikitskaya, in a courtyard past the Вокруг света food court I mentioned. Let’s just say it’s not may favourite and leave it at that. For those of you who want craft beer, you are in for a treat. The easiest way to find bars is with the Untappd App, but here are some of my favourites. Jawsspot. On the 6th floor of a shopping arcade at the top of Boulevard Nikitskaya. It’s not a big place, but they do have a balcony with a view of Lubyanka, the FSB (formerly KGB) building. They also do a mean pizza and 21 draft beers. My favourite bar is the Rule taproom on Starovagankovskiy Lane. It’s in a courtyard and only opens at 4. Another great bar is Eric The Red on Old Arbat. It’s on three floors, has 63 taps and a full menu. I could do a whole long article just on the craft beer bars. Also on old Arbat are Balalaika and (about to open) 16 Tons. Some of my favourites are further out of the city centre, or just plain hard to find. Pivbar has a couple of locations and is worth a try. Other Central Craft beer bars are 69 Pints (Tverskaya St 5/6), Craft station (улица Рождественка, 6/9/20), Cidrella (Boulevard Nikitskaya again). If you like Belgian beer look out for Lambic. There are several of them, they are more of a restaurant than bar, but the one round the corner from me (just opened, so only eaten once) seems to have an offer of discounted beer if you only drink and don’t eat. There are outlets on Bol'shoy Cherkasskiy Pereulok (near 15/17), Strastnoy Blvd 7, Myasnitskaya Ulitsa, 40А and Gogolevsky Blvd, 33/1. There are others further out. Ulitsa Kuznetskiy Most between Tverskaya & Petrovka also has plenty to suit all tastes. If you want to get out from the very centre there are certain districts close by worth a look. One area to explore is Red Oktober Island. Lots of bars & Restaurants. Chistye Prudye is also worth a walk out to. A final word of warning, it is not legal to drink on the streets any more. People will spill out from bars etc, especially in the summer, and during the world cup the police seemed to talk a lenient approach, but then the focus of the world was on them. Much as it would be good to stand in Red Square and drink a bottle (or five) of beer, you find yourselves moved on. On the subject of being moved on, the police will often arbitrarily close off a street, or a whole park, or all of Red Square. They are not usually terribly helpful in explaining how to get where you want to go when this happens, but they like to pretend they don’t speak English, even when some of them do. You will often go through an underpass and the way out to the other side is blocked. You just have to find another way. This most often happens round Alexander Gardens but can happen elsewhere. It often catches the locals out as well. OK, I’ve written much more than I expected to, so I’ll stop now. I keep thinking of other bits to add. Any questions, and I’ll do what I can to answer.
  2. Thought i would asked if anyone has been to or worked in Shanghai. If so what were there impressions ?
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