This staunch Russian restaurant is the latest challenger to 1933’s singular ability to repel diners. But where huge Chinese ballrooms and racing car themes have failed, Red Square actually manages to pull off a tasty, affordable and authentic menu.

With globally recognised Russian and Ukrainian fare from borscht (RMB18) to potato pancakes (RMB20), the menu has plenty to choose from. Each comes as a small dish so there’s good reason to explore the lesser known items, especially if you can decipher the slightly obscure descriptions. The salad Olivier (RMB28) is a solid rendition of the mound of vegetables and mayonnaise otherwise known as a Russian salad. Of the soups, the less common rice Kharcho (RMB28) stands out; its hearty base with tender chunks of lamb make it perfect for winter.

Golubtsy (RMB32), meat and rice wrapped in cabbage, is a mainstay of Russian comfort food. Here though, they are a victim of Chinese produce. They’re a little bland and need lashings of Smetana sauce. The slightly dry chicken Kyev (RMB38) runs into similar problems.

Red Square also caters for the high-flyers. Their red caviar bliny (RMB68) are the real Russian deal, large pancakes served with incredibly salty caviar. They’re definitely an acquired taste; Western canapé renditions are a much lighter affair and we can see why.

In the evenings there are live performances, so expect Cossack dancing and Russian techno—assuming they have enough people fill their huge dining room. 1933 may be too far from the former French Concession to be trendy and a little too try-hard to win over discerning Bund diners, but it’s worth bucking the trend and heading over if you’re looking for an eastern-European experience.

Seme: Rm. 308, 1/F, 1933 Building, 10 Shajing Lu 沙径路10号1933老场坊1号楼308室

Everywhere you go in this country there’s a local delicacy. We’re spoilt in Shanghai with the Xiaolongbao. Most of China’s snacks are dubious or godawful. Take the Yunnan deep fried goat’s cheese for example, or the Suzhou sesame paste sugar balls, or the beijing gravy dumplings. All tasty enough on the first bite but it’s downhill all the way thereafter.

So, given that Chongqing has some 31.5 million people, we were expecting a plethora of snack offerings. Take the city’s proximity to pepper-loving Sichuan, distance from fresh air and the local desire to punish themselves, here are some of the worst, weirdest and damn spiciest snack foods in the world:

See the Chongqing street food flickr photoset here.

Other posts on Chongqing here

In the five and a half years since being infatuated with going to Chongqing (China’s largest city that nobody has heard of) I’ve conjured up images of what it would look like.

Sure. I know people who’ve been or lived there. “There’s a reason you’ve never heard of it” they say. “It’s basically any big Chinese city, just bigger”. But they said the same about Guangzhou and so I remained unperturbed.

I knew it would be hectic, hazy, hilly and very Chinese. I figured there’d be some curious local delicacies, one or two AAAA tourist traps and a sprinkling of Louis Vuitton.

In all my wildest projections I didn’t imagine there would be an entire district covered in graffiti. There is.

HuangJuePing is the high-street of a neighbourhood which envelopes the Chongqing art college. In 2006, a prominent local artsy figure managed to persuade The Party that his doodle project would be a good idea. They agreed, and within minutes had convinced every single resident of HuangJuePing to go along.

And so over the next months they painted almost every square inch of every wall and building in the area. The result is an overload to the senses, like a council housing compound that went ten steps further.

Well done China. It’s bloody awesome. Chongqing you proved me right. It’s exactly why I came to China.

I look 5 million photographs. Here’s a handfull:

More photos in the Chongqing, Doodle Street flickr set here.

I came to China to explore. To see everything. This is the ancient and ‘harmonious nation of diversity’. Such a bold notion must surely make for some curious and tasty contrasts.

From the provinces the size of two Swedens, to the those with a population of three Germanys and one Spain I’m here to enjoy them for what they are, not what they want us too see.

I knew it wouldn’t all be pretty, I came to test the senses. I would be the antitourist.

My first non-mainstream taste of China was a 2006 Guardian article on the ‘Megapolis you’ve never heard of’. Since then I’ve been transfixed by making a visit to Chongqing.

Thanks to a friend’s wedding and a little free time, five and a half years later I finally made it to the city of 31.5 million people to find what it takes to keep something so ginormous entirely off the radar. The answer? A blanket of haze, a mountain of awful food, a couple of rivers and one or two very well kept secrets.

Blankets of haze

Set on a plinth at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, Chongqing has the only urban skyline in China that actually looks good. It feels like the city is bursting at the seams – bulging out of the ground with a million skyscrapers in various stages of incubation. In contrast to the flat-pancakes of Shanghai and Guangzhou, Chongqing is a beautiful and striking landscape of brute force and human determination.

Beautiful and striking if you can see it. The summer humidity, winter fog, inland clouds and rampant pollution make Chongqing the most hazy city in China. The effect is a constant blanket of dazzling grey, like a hangover headache. Take some rose tinted shades.

Mountains of spice

Thanks to the topography, bicycles are virtually non-existent. The locals, devoid of an A* Chinese past time (causing havoc on the roads) have instead particularly embraced street food. This being Sichuan, the result is street food drenched in spice. Then covered in spice.

Absolutely everything comes with spice. The steamed dumplings, the noodle cups, the big macs, the skewered fish, the korean rice pots, the gigantic BBQ sticks (that put Shanghai’s to shame) the fresh tomatoes, the bottles of water…

… and the chongqing hotpot… frozen lumps of volcano are heated in a tabletop moat until bubbling with anger. Plates of raw ingredients turn into vessels for the lava to break free. After an hour of dining I’m not sure who ate who. I definitely saw the hotpot burp after we left the table.

Click here for my bonus post about the various food-offerings in Chongqing.

A couple of rivers

Chongqing’s most impressive feature (beyond the local’s capability to consume swathes of thermonuclear sauce) are the two rivers that bisect it. Wide and lazy, they lend a feeling that the city centre is a river island. As Chongqing has emerged bawling into the modern age – relics of it’s relationship with the river remain. Fleets of rusty tankers float decommissioned along the banks. Bang Bang workers loiter with shoulder-lengths of bamboo poles at the ferry terminals to carry wares uphill.

Rare for the urban waterway, Chongqing also has a history of slightly appreciating it’s river. One of the three actual tourist destinations in the city is a few centuries old citadel clinging to the rock face. It has been completely overhauled into a ghastly arrangement of tacky souvenir shops, spice outlets and pirate themed bars.

Don’t go there. Instead take a night cruise along the river and enjoy it from afar. With the haze turned down and the skyscraper lights turned up, evening is the best time to appreciate Chongqing’s skyline.

One or two well kept secrets

Ci Qi Kou

Perhaps not so well hidden, Ci Qi Kou, is one of the other main tourist-riddled destinations in Chongqing.

Festooned with appalling bric-a-brak, the part of Ci Qi Kou that’s infinitely more unknown and interesting are the mostly untouched back streets. Nobody goes there because after five minutes on the main drag your soul has been extracted by the gourd and fake art vendors. If you can survive the onslaught, the real Ci Qi Kou is a forgotten neighbourhood, frozen in time where the government’s demolish signs were tagged everywhere some time ago and now serve as macho blue plaques.

Whatever you do – don’t go to the waterside carnival. You can do without spending 5rmb to throw bean bags at boxes of ice tea.

Huangjueping

Chongqing’s doodle street is exactly the reason I can to China. In 2007 an entire neighbourhood was covered in graffiti. Apartment buildings, shops, streets, everything has been wrapped in a layer of doodles. It’s incredible. It looks beautiful, a process of accumulation as you wander from one end of the district to the other.

See more in my post on Chongqing’s Doodle street.

the complete Chongqing photo flickr set is here.

Flying home for Christmas.
Below, Siberia stretches to the horizon, a million snowy, peaceful, untouched peaks.

Seems the right moment to reflect on the year; snowboarding in Japan, graduating an MBA, a spell in banking, touring Spain, showing family our city, home-made bacon, paradise in Vietnam, special people, starting Factory Five and making it back to Yorkshire after a couple of years away… all to the rhythm of Shanghai in the worlds most talked about country.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, a peaceful boxing day and for me; the time to sit & write.

… and I’ve just found a bunch of old photos to upload so be warned!

Dear supporter/sponsor/sender of good thoughts

We actually finished the Hong Kong Trailwalker. All of it. We knew it was going to be tough (30hrs) but had no idea exactly how tough (37hrs57mins). As the day became night (twice), the sun turned to rain, all the checkpoints were passed, all the energy gels finished and we were running empty – all we had left in the tank was the sponsorship money raised for Oxfam and our pledge to deliver it the whole way. For this we thank you.

Unknown to us until we arrived at what we thought was the finish line, they added a few bonus miles. According to the organisers it was 2km longer but the GPS seems to think it was closer to 5km. Therefore, if you’d like to add a 2-5% bonus to your sponsorship money (or you missed the chance last time) we’ll gratefully receive any more donations before the end of the month.

Only 75% of the people who start finish it – and we were amongst the mighty few who tackled it continuously without sleep. We’ll leave you some finishing quotes from the team, and a couple of shots (taken with my iPhone) along the way.

Drew: “Not even the breathtaking scenery over Hong Kong, forest paths and dawn wildlife, carnival atmosphere along the route, phenomenal podiatry support or free-flow peanut butter sandwiches could detract from this being the hardest, most horrible event I’ve ever taken part in”

Alex: “HK slapped me in the face with a white glove; the mountains were steeper, the rain fell, the ground turned into mud that seemed to want to eat my shoes, the anti-blister socks let me down 8km in, and the peanut butter sandwiches stopped tasting good. Never has my body and mind been in such disagreement. But we found the extra crumbs of energy to bring home the sponsorship money. Thanks to all who gave so generously and especially those along the way who brought us McDonalds and pizza.

Stef: “First I want to apologize to my pinky toes, to my poor flat feet and my knee caps for all the suffering I put them through. This was the toughest walk I’ve ever done in the worst weather you can imagine. Surely even if Chow Yun Fat pulled his Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon stunt, bouncing from one peak to another, he’d be blown away in seconds and become disoriented in the thick mist. Many thanks to my family, my friends, my teammates and my mint color walking stick whom all supported me through this insanity. This walk has left scars on me mentally, physically and financially, I have absolutely zero desire to repeat this experience. However, there is one thing I do want though, can all the 4800 people who had seen me zombie walking in a big black garbage bag erase their memory…like permanently? ”

Peter: “I went for a walk in the mountains of Hong Kong and came back as a changed man… This could have been the tale of an epic spiritual journey where one finds his true self – well it was not! I did change though, I now have what looks like leprosy struck feet; knees like a cow that can’t walk down a flight of stairs because of its mis-aligned joints and a constant yelling inside my head ‘to never ever to do such a stupid thing again’. What’s next?”

More photos in my flickr set here

I celebrated my 18th birthday in Barcelona with a herd of architecture student. We wandered the rambles, hooting, munching on paella and visiting every Gaudi on the map.

So relentless were we in making it down the list, those phenomenal buildings became lost in the white noise of architecture.

I’ve spent the years since then perfecting my archi-white-noise-cancelling capabilities. By rolling my eyes, Archispeak Soundwaves are knocked loose from the environment. Even the most potent chat can be minimised to the faintest of rear-brain niggles.

There is a piece of architecture beyond any AWNC technology. Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. In Barcelona today I couldn’t find our favorite Pelle Negro bar or private pipe-collector’s club… but I can remember that cathedral in all five senses.

And now, all five have been compounded with 12 years of interest. Whilst still clearly far from finished, La Sagrada Familia is what it wasn’t before… a Cathedral.

It’s phenomenal. A walk around the museum in the basement demonstrates Gaudi’s forays elsewhere as merely dry runs. How he took forms from nature. The logic in the column’s alien realisation. Wonderful.

Every nook is completely overrun with tourist ants, busily getting in the way of everything. A best approach is to stand at a backwards angle, always looking upwards. The action is all up there anyway.

The tour of the upper reaches tries to make you avoid it by slapping an extra tax and a complicated queuing system. Ignore them. Do it.

To see more photos, visit the flickr set.

There’s slightly more to Barcelona than paella and Gaudi.

In case you didn’t read the guide book (or you only got a cheesy one for tourists) here’s a super-quick antitourism rundown of what’s actually good to see in Spain’s capital city.

La Rambla and the Port

Walk along a racing line from Plaça de Catalunya to the port in as little time as possible. There are three photos worth taking. One of the wide pedestrian-packed boulevard, the second of the amusing real life mannequins and the third of the petty criminals as they steal your wallet. You’ll see them trying trick you into a ball-cup gamble. Too late. He’s gone.

La Boqueria

Impressive due to it’s monstrous volume of fresh produce, La Boqueria is ironically the biggest market you’ll ever go to and probably come away with nothing.

You’ll be completist, you’ll wander ever aisle and reach every corner. You’ll see beautiful displays of fresh seafood, vegetables, regional delicacies. You’ll buy a filo pasty shaped like a cumberland sausage it will be good but fleeting. If you’ve still got your wallet, splurge on a fresh juice from one of the 55 vendors.

The Beach and Barceloneta

Barcelona beach is on the best sea in the world; the Mediterranean. Good sand, warm waters an island to swim to and it’s proximity to the city are enough to make everybody jealous.

Trumping all of this are the neighbouring streets of La Barceloneta. These tight streets of residential blocks are oozing layers of repression and gentrification. If I lived in Barcelona I would live here. Every day I would walk down to my corner deli-bar, drink a clara and argue with the locals about unemployment.

The alleyways

East of La Rambla are a network of painfully picturesque alleys and plazas. The more lost you get, the fewer tourists you’ll see so make this a priority. Look out for artisan garages, neighbourhood bars curious galleries and upmarket plaza refits. Have a bottle of water to hand and stay hydrated.

Agbar Tower and Santa Caterina Market

Barcelona is only 95% Gaudi. Of the newer projects a couple stand out. From afar, Torre Agbar is a ginormous monet-wrapped bullet, glistening in hues of red and blue in the long afternoon sun. Impressive at a distance, it reveals it’s budget construction up close… like a poor-man’s Swiss Re.

Like a Marylebone Waitrose, you just know the peaceful layout and beautiful produce at Mercat Santa Caterina are going to attract a hefty premium. Come here instead for the roof, an undulating technicolor timber tapestry. You’ll not be able to wangle you’re way up there but the surrounding buildings offer a vantage point.

(also worthy of a runner’s up prize is Richard Roger’s Bullring. For some reason they lifted the entire bullring up a few inches and turned it into a mall)

La Sagrada Familia

Only an imbecile would visit Barcelona without going to the Sagrada Familia. Find out why in my post on Gaudi’s masterpiece Cathedral.

To see more photos, visit the flickr set.

So way back before this was ever a marginal reality – I signed up for an utterly ridiculous endurance event. I knew that the chances of us winning a entry ticket were too slim to matter. It was also so far in the future that a million things could comfortably get in the way before it ever got on the radar.

Well. We did win an entry ticket. The distant future became the next few weeks. A huge blip on the radar pulsed ever closer like the beat of a Viking drum. Why does this feel familiar?

Next week, Alex, Stef, Peter (All from Neri & Hu) and I will go to Hong Kong, find the start of the Army’s most grueling MacLehose Trail and with a few thousand people walk non-stop along the entirety of it.

It will probably take us around 30hours. Through the day, through the night and up to the following evening. All in the name of charity – and my inability to say no.

We’ve bought the kit. Kind of. In true Drok style we’ll be doing it in our normal gym kit with a couple kagools and an ipod.

We’ve done the training. Sort of. We hiked the 7 hour hangzhou trail, got up at 4am and walked from Shanghai to Sheshan and last weekend scaled the fire escapes of 6 Shanghai Skyscrapers across town.

We’ve got the support. Fully. A couple special friends will be at choice spots along the way with blister tape, big macs and pugil sticks for us to beat each other with.

What we don’t have is the Charity donations. We need a minimum of a few hundred pounds to pass their requirement and a few hundred more to make us feel like we made a difference. I am in no shadow of a doubt that it’s going to be the hardest sporting thing I’ve ever done.

So, on the night before we leave – next tuesday, 15th November, come to Annion in the Jiashan Market, wish us luck and instead of buying me a parting drink, buy yourself a raffle ticket.

We’ve been super-lucky to have some amazing sponsors giving awesome prizes including a Factory Five bike, Hyatt on the Bund brunch tickets, Dyrberg/kern jewelry and Tom Dixon lights.

If you’re not in Shanghai on tuesday, give me 100RMB or £10 (or more) via paypal and I’ll put your name on a ticket.

With a foundation of mostly mediocre restaurants, the Cool Docks looked set to be Shanghai’s next full-time flop. Rico Rico, however, does its best to make the South Bund a realistic gastronomic destination.

After passing the wet sandcastle that is Rico Rico beach, our expectations of its sister venue were far from lofty. Get through the door, however, and there’s a clearly different vibe. Tastefully vintage-meets-warehouse themed, the restaurant doubles as a bar and budding salsa venue most evenings. Upstairs, and quaintly served wedged in a novel, is the menu, a pan-Latin read from a Spanish-Mexican chef. Expect empanadas, gambas and a couple dishes with some Asian influence.

Served atop a custom-cast section of terracotta, the “piruleta” croquettes (RMB35) set the tone, each with a surprising yet naturally apt filling that includes pumpkin and sweet potato. Also well composed is the shaved calamari salad (RMB60). Balanced against pico de gallo, it delivers each one’s identity without compromise.

The dozen or so mains put Rico Rico in the big league. From the aired potato accompanying the superbly tender pig cheeks (RMB168) to the seabass skin with the roasted seabass and sweet potato puree (RMB135), there’s an attention to preparation often lacking in “upper echelon” restaurants. The price tag does concur though, and each dish would benefit from a selection of sides.

A brave trio of cinnamon bread, rice pudding and spicy chocolate ice cream (RMB55) has enough of a love-it-or-hate-it appeal to pass. A safer finale is the very long Spanish Moscow Mule (RMB60) enjoyed at the downstairs bar or on the outside terrace.

Rating: 4/5
Rico Rico, Rm. 114, 601 Waima Lu 外马路601号114室,
Tel: 3330-0977