Review: Łubu-dubu bar, Wrocław

This bar opened a few months ago and is the centre of town, on ul. Odrzańska 24-26.

It's a place I like, though I can see why other people may not share my opinion.

How to describe the place?  Well, it's like a cross between a Bar Mleczny and Przedwojenna mixed with a Soviet-era taste for decor.

What does that mean?  Well, there you can get the foods-to-go-with-vodka like herring and onion, or potatoes with white cheese.  There is however more on offer than at Przedwojenna, in that you can get periogi ruski and many other foods that you would find in a Bar Mleczny, such as pancakes and potato pancakes, in other words, the perfect food (i.e. fatty) to have during or after drinking alcohol.  One can also get beer and soft drinks there.

So far, so Przedwojenna.  The difference is (apart from its bigger size) is the decor.  Outside and inside one sees pictures of Polish stars from post-1945.  The tables are done up like in canteens, with plastic covers and basic tables.

It is this that may put some people off.  I know someone who can't stand the place, as it seems like a strange 'Soviet-nostalgia' place for people too young to remember the boredom of that time.  Przedwojenna for that reason appears more classy, and more representative of a Poland which has more positive associations.

(Nostalgia for the days of communism, including by people too young to have experienced or remember communist statist rule, or Ostalgie as it is called in Germany is certainly not foreign to Poland.  The Klubo kawiarnia PRL bar on the market square in Wrocław also has a communism-era feel about it.  The book 'N\osztalgia- ways of revisting the socialist past' shows various ways in which people young and old show in various ways nostalgia for the days of communist statist rule throughout many of the Warsaw pact countries; see here for more details.)

It's up to you.  I like Łubu-dubu for its selection of food (they have more vegetarian food than Przedwojenna) and for their delicious potato pancakes.  It's not a place I'd go for a quick classy vodka though, more the kind of place for a bite-to-eat-after-drinking-with-a-sneaky-vodka.