There's a new snack in Shanghai you destroy with a hammer

The Pudong Shangri-La's pastry team at Gourmet loves getting creative with its desserts. They were the first in Shanghai to introduce New York's cronut trend here and followed that up with their own 'Cree-Osh' (a combination croissant and brioche in case you couldn't guess). Now - 'breaking' news - they've brought Germany's schneeballen to town.

This big-in-Rothenburg treat features spheres of tough, biscuit-like pastry, which the Shangri-La have tarted up with a variety of toppings such as raspberry, white chocolate and coconut, yuzu and Sichuan pepper. But the thing that makes schneeballen ('snowball' in English) more interesting than your average pastry ball is that they're served accompanied by a wooden hammer, which you're invited to smash the snacks up with.

Like this:

Well, kind of. Our first volunteer didn't make much of a dent in them, but we soon learned to just let rip.

Basically, it's great if you have anger issues and are feeling a bit peckish. Not so great for your ayi when the bags break, but still.

The result is a load of crushed biscuity bits with various flavours mixed in - we particularly like the dark chocolate and kumquat and ginger varieties. But really, the culinary merit here is something of a secondary consideration; the joy of schneeballen lies in going all smashy smashy on some biscuits.

If you wish you were a schneeballer, you can pick them up from Gourmet (ground floor, on the street beside the Super Brand Mall) for 18RMB for one, 58RMB for a box of three or 118RMB for six.

Stop! Hammer-time...