[2] Initially, the surname was Mokłowicz (Ukrainian: Моклович), including that of Robert's grandfather — Izydor,[3] but upon Polonisation some members of the family changed it to Makłowicz.

After the end of communism in Poland, in 1993, as a joke, he had shown one of his friends a recipe for wiener schnitzel he prepared himself.

He was instantly offered the job of a culinary critic of the Kraków variation of the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

Soon afterwards his essays and descriptions of various restaurants in Kraków became so popular that he was moved to the all-national weekly magazine published by Gazeta Wyborcza.

Between 2020–2021, he hosted a music programme entitled "From punk rock to Bartók" on internet radio station Newonce.radio.

His grandfather's brother was Volodymyr Moklovych [uk], a former combat officer of the Ukrainian nationalist UVO District Command in Stanisławów and a member of the OUN in Belgium.

[12] In 2022, a Kraków researcher discovered two new species of tardigrade and named one of them Mesobiotus maklowiczi in honour of the TV chef.