i. Biography
Masha Rener is the resident head chef at Lina Stores in London, where her cooking carries the easy confidence of someone who knows exactly how much can be said through pasta and how much should be left to the pleasure of the plate. In 2019, she was executive chef at the same restaurant, with pasta as her central craft and pici alla norcina as a named dish. Her work sits in that delicious space between restraint and warmth: the kind of food that feels deeply considered without ever losing its appetite for comfort. What gives her cooking its emotional pull is not just technique, but memory. One early food recollection remains vivid enough to arrive almost as a scene rather than a sentence: “My mum is Croatian and regularly used to cook a soup called ‘Bozija kasa’ prepared with milk and polenta, I can still remember my family having it around the fireplace when I was about 3 years old.” The image is intimate and elemental — a bowl of something simple and sustaining, steam rising into the room, family gathered close, the fireplace lending its own quiet glow. It is the sort of memory that seems to explain a lifelong instinct for food that comforts as much as it delights.
At a Glance - Current title: Resident Head Chef. - 2019 role: executive chef at the same restaurant. - Specialty: pasta. - Dish: pici alla norcina. - Food memory: Croatian soup with milk and polenta, recalled from childhood.
Signature
Masha’s signature dishes include spaghetti with tomato sauce and ravioli with ricotta and breadcrumbs and tomato sauce. They are dishes that sound deceptively familiar, yet in the right hands become something more finely tuned: the sort of cooking that relies on balance, on texture, and on the confidence to let a few well-chosen ingredients do the speaking. Spaghetti with tomato sauce, in particular, captures something essential about her sensibility — straightforward on the surface, but all the more compelling for its clarity. Likewise, ravioli with ricotta, breadcrumbs and tomato sauce suggests a cook attentive to softness and contrast, to the small pleasures that make a plate feel complete.
In Their Words “I know this will sound so Italian but honestly my favourite dish is spaghetti with tomato sauce.” The line is disarming in its simplicity, and it reveals a chef who is unafraid of sincerity. For Masha Rener, the pleasures of pasta appear to lie not in novelty, but in precision, memory and repetition — in a dish that can be endlessly familiar and still feel deeply personal. “My mum is Croatian and regularly used to cook a soup called ‘Bozija kasa’ prepared with milk and polenta, I can still remember my family having it around the fireplace when I was about 3 years old.” That recollection lingers with the warmth of a childhood tableau: a Croatian soup, milk and polenta, the glow of the fireplace, the presence of family. It is a memory rooted in domestic ritual, and in it you can sense the early ingredients of a chef’s life — nourishment, comfort, and the power of food to hold a household together.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Masha
What is Masha Rener's current role?
As of 2026, Masha Rener is Resident Head Chef.
What is Masha Rener known for?
Pasta.
