My Life
I was born in Łódź and raised in a small town called Chodzież in Poland. I studied journalism and also took radio broadcasting classes, but in order to earn my own money alongside my studies, I started working as a bartender in clubs. After several years of moving around Poland (Piła, Bydgoszcz, Łódź, Wrocław) as well as stints in Spain and Belgium, I finally moved to Warsaw to work more seriously as a cocktail bartender and finish my degree. I didn’t think bartending would be my future, but I was lucky enough (with only a couple of years of experience) to get a job as a barback at Pies Czy Suka. The team there introduced me to a professional way of working in gastronomy and I learned a lot from them. At the same time, I was still working for a radio station, but my salary wasn’t great and I felt that they were using me. So I decided to quit.
“Having such a great team makes me really proud”.
Pawel Rodaszynski
Eventually I wanted to open my own place, and after leaving Pies Czy Suka, I opened El Koktel together with a friend, which gave me the final push needed to decide on a full-time career in gastronomy. Nowadays as a busy cocktail bar owner, I hardly ever tend the bar myself. I am too busy with excel spreadsheets and the likes, I’m afraid. As both a bartender and owner I really feel whole and fulfilled though. I won a couple of competitions myself, and my bar has also won domestic as well as global awards. The bartenders in my team are ambitious people and I encourage them to take part in competitions to advance in the field of mixology but also be more creative in their job. Having such a great team makes me really proud.