Watch the video below for Masha Rener's insider guide to Lina Stores
Masha Rener’s city-renowned polpette recipe originally comes from her ex-boyfriend’s mother. ‘It’s the only good thing I got from that relationship!’, she jokes, but it’s telling that one of her signature dishes at Lina Stores was handed down through generations, passed along with love and the nurturing need to feed.
Traditional recipes, simple ingredients and homemade cooking form the foundations in Rener’s kitchen. 'Many years ago I was really into the idea of fine dining, but now I’m more interested in the idea of the osteria,' she explains. She discovered Lina Stores on regular visits to her sister in London, where she would lament the lack of ‘good Italian products’, and was delighted to discover a little store that sold ‘better quality dried pasta than you can find in some grocery stores in Italy.’ When the go-to deli, which has been selling antipasti, cheese and Italian staples since 1944, opened a restaurant on Soho’s Greek Street in summer 2018, she jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the team.
Rener grew up helping her parents on their hotel La Chiusa in Umbertide (between Tuscany and Umbria), which transformed from family home into an agriturismo for epicureans. Olive oil came from the groves on site, the wine from grapes growing in the vineyard and animals were reared on their farm. Coming to London was difficult: ‘I didn’t want to move to the city – I wanted to be in the country,’ says Masha, ‘so it was a big surprise to find myself here.’
Pasta is hand-rolled each morning at the deli's kitchen. You can pick up a packet at the shop on Brewer Street, or take your time with each mouthful at the restaurant on Greek Street. Customers return over and over to both of the Soho outposts – admittedly, sometimes it’s for the beautiful packaging (hefty sandwiches come wrapped in signature peppermint-and-white paper, and you'll want to take home shelf-loads of pretty tins), but most often, it's for the fresh ingredients in Rener's food. ‘It’s the movement of your hand, or the little pinch of flour at that moment, that makes it taste so great,’ she says, conspiratorially.
Address: Lina Stores (restaurant), 51 Greek Street Soho, London W1D 4EH
Telephone: +44 203 929 0068
Website: linastores.co.uk
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