While Haustor and the song "Shane" echo from the speakers, and then the bars of the former Eurovision song "Ovo je Balkan" by Milan Stanković, a guy and a girl at the bar are pouring plum wine, and the guests are ordering sarma. At first glance - a scene from some Belgrade cafe.
However, this scene takes place two thousand kilometers to the north, on Baltics.
In the center of digital Europe, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, two months ago a Serbian restaurant with an unusual name for the local climate - "Ajde bre" was added to the already rich offer of international restaurants.
Not only the name and the offer of this restaurant are unusual, but also the fact that it was not opened by anyone originally from Serbia, but by one Rus.
Russians make up a little less than one-tenth of the capital's population Estonia, while in the whole country about a fifth of the population is of Russian origin.
From Ufa, via Zemun to Tallinn
The owner of this restaurant is Konstantin. He was born in the Russian city of Ufa. In the 1920s, he moved to Saint Petersburg and then to Tallinn. He speaks Estonian, Russian and English, and knows only a few phrases in Serbian.
He got the idea to open a restaurant like this after visiting the capital of Serbia.
"Two years ago, I was in Belgrade for the first time, and that's when I fell in love with Serbia, the people, the culture and, of course, the food," Konstantin tells "Vreme" as he drinks brandy from a jug.
During that trip, he also met Nikola, a restaurateur from Zemun. Two years later, in January 2026, he opened this somewhat exotic restaurant for the residents of Tallinn, but also for the tourists who stay there.
He just "picked up" the recipes from Nikola, the baking master from Zemun. Before opening the restaurant, the restaurateur from Zemun stayed in Tallinn to train chefs and teach them how to prepare "homemade" food.
In addition to recipes, he also brought from Serbia chokanjčići, in which brandy is served in this bar.
In the first days of work, Peđa from Kragujevac, who has been living in Tallinn for several years because of his work in the automotive industry, also helped. He says, among other things, he cooked beans and ribs for the guests, and he is always ready to help if needed.
Serbian, but not from Serbia
The interior of the bar follows the idea with which it was opened: on the walls are photos of Novak Djokovic, "Jugo" and illustrations from "Balkan Spy". At the bar, šljivovica, viljamovka and other spirits. Admittedly, not from Serbia.
"We buy food and alcohol from Slovenia and Croatia. It is more difficult to import from Serbia because it is not in the European Union," explains Konstantin.
On the menu are ajvar, sarma, gibanica, pies, fried peppers with cheese, ushtipci, kebabs and other Serbian delicacies, but none of the ingredients came directly from Serbia. The owner's plan is to change that in the future.
In the menu, everything is first written in Serbian and then in English, although none of the employees in this restaurant speak Serbian.
The owners' plans are to eventually expand the offer to include dishes from other former Yugoslav republics, but for now the menu remains faithful to the classic offer of Serbian taverns.
The guests are diverse, from the Balkans, whom I know well, to locals and tourists.
When choosing a name, he hesitated whether to name the restaurant "Jugoton", after the gramophone record factory, or "Ajde bre". Another idea won out.
Diaspora between two worlds
Several hundred people from Serbia live in the Estonian capital, mostly younger people, employed in the IT sector, for which Estonia is widely known.
They come from a country that has been stagnant on the European road for years, to a country that has been a member of the EU for more than 20 years, is almost completely digitized and among the most effective in the fight against corruption.
They come from a country that is on the opposite side of the scale in all of this, especially the last one.
For them, these places are not just restaurants. They are a place of recognition, but also a reminder of differences. One of the guests, a Serb, who has been living in Tallinn for nine years, says that the sarma is "not like home". The difference between Serbia and Estonia, however, is much deeper than culinary.
The visit was realized within the project "Pulse of Europe - media visits to the EU"
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