„Gdańska“ in Oberhausen

Food and drink, art, music, committed warm-hearted landlords – all this can be found at “Gdańska”, a restaurant in the Old Market place in Oberhausen. It’s now been running for seventeen years and is an institution in the Ruhrgebiet city. It attracts people who are not only hungry for food but also for culture; and is not only packed to capacity when someone like Helge Schneider is playing another gig there. Maria and Czesław Golebiewski are the founders, owners and guiding spirits behind this uniquely Polish bar and eating-house.

“Incredible! I came here as a guest and left as a friend!”

Gdańska Oberhausen

„Gdańska“ in Oberhausen

Over 20 years ago Maria and Czesław Golebiewski (in Polish, Maria Gołębiewska, Czesław Gołąbiewski, Maria and Czesław Gołębiewscy) and their three children moved from Poland to Germany. Whilst they were getting used to their new life here they got the idea to do something for their fellow countrymen: to open a place where people could meet up, chat and exchange opinions. Friends knew there were some cheap places to rent in Oberhausen; and the upshot was that they opened a shop called “Slawe”. Here their customers could purchase everything from food to gift articles with a Slavic origin,. “All in all everything was fine, but my husband felt a bit restricted“, repeats Maria Golebiewski every time she talks about the start of her independent career.

On the road to growth

Because of his cultural “hyperactivity”, as Maria calls her husband’s creative drive, Czesław Golebiewski set off in search of somewhere new and was very much taken with some empty premises on the old marketplace in Oberhausen. “We’ll take that! We’re going to open a Polish bar!”. This rang in the birth of “Gdańska” – meaning “from Danzig”: and it didn’t take long to think of the name since the Golebiewskis came from a place near the city on the Baltic. The bar quickly became popular, not only amongst their fellow countrymen. After its opening on 1st April 2000 it increasingly became a regular haunt for Germans until in the end it was simply too small. Hence it was more than a welcome occasion when a neighbouring chemist, and later a hairdresser, moved out next door. Now there were no more hurdles to expansion. The Golebiewskis proceeded to convert the place with their own hands. Every spare cent was invested.

A variety of food and fun

Anyone who thinks that the people in “Gdańska” only serve up typical Polish fare, is making a mistake. It goes without saying that pierogi, bigos and krakauer sausages are all on the menu. But hungry eaters also have a choice between a variety of good solid German dishes: stuffed cabbage, beef steak and chips, or fried trout. Every Sunday they can also lip their licks over the huge buffet brunch. But food is only one of the ingredients used to describe what goes on in “Gdańska”. There are also plenty of cultural and social events in the restaurant, and also on the square outside during the summer: things like a Jazz carousel, blues concerts, theatre shows and a “guitarrissimo” (on 1st May each year all interested guitarists are invited to get together on the old marketplace and play “Hey Joe” by Jimmy Hendrix). A Gdańska Theatre and a Gdańska cinema are also part of the colourful variety of events that are close to the hearts of the owners.

If a musician has played deep into the night or the last guests have missed their train they can be sure of a comfortable room in the “Hotelik-Gdańska”. A large format open-air gallery has been adorning the backyard of “Gdańska’s” backyard since 2016. Indeed the project is being extended by more murals in 2017 in order to offer a space for the “Hof-Theater-Gdańska”.