Luca Marino
Head Chef · Executive Chef
Story
From a kitchen
where craftsmanship and family come together
Luca Marino cooks the way he was raised to. Not for show, but for people. For family. For those moments when food isn’t just on a plate, but becomes a reason to pause for a moment.
He’s been close to the culinary world since childhood, even though his first steps led him elsewhere. After graduating from high school, he enrolled in college to study chemistry. But a family situation intervened and changed everything. That’s when he first found himself in a professional kitchen.
The beginnings were tough and far from romantic. Days started early in the morning at the bar and ended late at night in the kitchen. At this pace, Luca built the foundation on which he stands to this day—discipline, endurance, and respect for the work of others.
Gradually, he moved on to actual cooking. He worked his way through trattorias where the focus is not on presentation but on flavor. He cooked in various stations, from the grill to pasta, often long into the night. It was there that he began to develop his own sense of ingredients and the simplicity that is key to Italian cuisine.
The turning point came when he moved to Prague. Under the guidance of a Sardinian head chef, he went through an intensive period that propelled him several years ahead. He learned modern techniques, kitchen organization, and what it means to take responsibility for the entire operation.
Baking was also an important chapter. Working with dough, fermentation, and precise procedures reminded him of his original field of study—chemistry. It was here that gastronomy and science converged, and his approach to food gained further depth.
Yet in his kitchen, he always returns to what matters most: family. To the flavors he remembers from his childhood and to recipes that aren’t written down but passed down from one generation to the next. His grandmothers and mother remain his greatest inspiration to this day.
Today, he brings this approach to the kitchen at IL Morso, where experience, the memory of flavors, and respect for gastronomy come together.
I
Ingredients Come First
Technique serves the ingredient—not the other way around. The best tomato needs nothing more than salt and olive oil. Everything else is just an attempt to mask the mediocrity of what’s on the plate.
II
Seasonality as a Composition
The menu changes with the seasons—not because of trends, but because chanterelles in October and truffles in January have their time. Cooking out of season is a compromise we won’t make here.
III
The Memory of Flavors
A recipe is just a guide. Real cooking is in the hands, the nose, and the memory. Grandmothers didn’t cook from cookbooks—they cooked based on how they felt. You can’t learn this from a book.
Come to the Table
The menu changes with the seasons. Please make a reservation in advance.