Mladost is not like one of those trendy ping – pong bars that are popping up in London or Manhattan. This place is as real as it gets and so old that it didn’t need an expensive interior designer to make it now-so-fashionably-retro. It has been producing real world ping – pong champions since the 50s.
In fact, it is run by the youngest offspring of the famous Serbian table tennis family Karakasevic, so not only can one practice on the very same tables as some of the real-life champions did, but Kiza himself is there to show you some hints and tricks.
Since I don’t have any ambition of turning into a table-tennis pro, when I go there it is with a group of friends and the idea is to spend a fun and unusual evening together- laughs over bizarre points and moves guaranteed.
There is also a bar and a small, secluded garden shaded by a walnut tree, so a good portion of time there is spent just relaxing in the retro atmosphere of the place and peace of this beautiful part of Zemun.
But the main thing for me is the authenticity of this place – it is like nostalgia for something I have never known, for something that I wasn’t a witness to, which is hard to explain, but very soothing to experience.
