For a long time, the only thing that glowed about the reputation of eastern European countries were rumours that vast swathes of them were polluted with radioactive waste.
If asked to come up with three things that were typically eastern European, it's a fair bet we would mention rubbish cars, mullets and female shot-putters from the '70s who had fingers as thick as a brickie's neck.
Mullets aside, much has changed in eastern Europe. The Czech Republic has been a cool hangout for years. Budapest is becoming hip and the Baltic states are gaining a reputation as great places to party all of which makes it a good time to open an eastern European bar in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh's deputy provost Steve Cardownie has been a regular visitor to eastern Europe over the years and has teamed up with businessman David Coutts to open Da-Da-Da!
Coutts has spent several years running pubs in Estonia. Between the two of them, they should be able to tell their borsch from their Bolshoi.
The first thing that grabs the eye as you walk in is the jarring colour scheme. Da-Da-Da! is Russian for 'Yes. Yes. Yes!'
The orange walls and blue ceiling combo at Da-Da-Da! is more likely to provoke a 'No, No, please God No!' response.
Eyeball-bashing decor aside, Da-Da-Da! gets most things right. There are plasma screens dotted around the walls and The White Stripes, Foo Fighters and The Clash were giving it laldie without making it impossible to have a chat.
Many of the staff are eastern European. This makes it very authentic, but things unravelled a little when we had difficulty getting an order for a ginger beer and lime to cross the language barrier.
However, we got there in the end and the staff were still smiling about it. This made a pleasant change from some local bar staff who think the best way to deal with a botched order is to treat the customer as a troublemaker.
Where Da-Da-Da! scores big points is its beer selection. You can find bottles of Baltika easily enough in Edinburgh, but A Le Coq beer from Estonia was a new one to me.
All the beers come in their own, differently-shaped glasses, which is a neat touch. It would be better if they were frosted and the same goes for their range of vodkas.
Da-Da-Da!'s bar snacks and food menu are fun. Beetroot soup or borsch is on the menu, alongside chicken Kiev and stroganoff. My favourite were the snacks of pickled onions and gherkins with honey and sour cream dips.
What really sealed it for me were the prices. With bottles of Baltika at a couple of quid, shots of vodka at £1.70 and half pints of soft drinks at 60 pence, Da-Da-Da! has the kind of prices last seen in Edinburgh when the Berlin Wall was still standing. Cheers, Comrades.
Open: 9am-1am seven days
Drinks: pint of Budvar £2.40; bottle of Baltika £2; bottle of A Le Coq £1.75; Rocket Fuel vodka £1.70.
Rating: Three out of five
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However, we got there in the end and the staff were still smiling about it. This made a pleasant change from some local bar staff who think the best way to deal with a botched order is to treat the customer as a troublemaker.
Where Da-Da-Da! scores big points is its beer selection. You can find bottles of Baltika easily enough in Edinburgh, but A Le Coq beer from Estonia was a new one to me.
All the beers come in their own, differently-shaped glasses, which is a neat touch. It would be better if they were frosted and the same goes for their range of vodkas.
Da-Da-Da!'s bar snacks and food menu are fun. Beetroot soup or borsch is on the menu, alongside chicken Kiev and stroganoff. My favourite were the snacks of pickled onions and gherkins with honey and sour cream dips.
What really sealed it for me were the prices. With bottles of Baltika at a couple of quid, shots of vodka at £1.70 and half pints of soft drinks at 60 pence, Da-Da-Da! has the kind of prices last seen in Edinburgh when the Berlin Wall was still standing. Cheers, Comrades.
Open: 9am-1am seven days 
