Chef Marco
Guarino

Some chefs learn their craft in professional kitchens. Marco Guarino learned his in the kitchen of his family home. His story begins in Italy, between Naples and Sicily, surrounded by the people who first taught him what food, family and Italian tradition really mean: his mum, his aunties and his grandparents.

Marco was only six years old when he first started cooking at home. Long before he ever thought about becoming a chef, he was watching his family cook, helping in the kitchen, learning by doing and absorbing recipes and traditions that had been passed down through generations. There were no professional cooking schools.

No restaurant kitchen. No carefully written recipes with everything measured to the gram. There was simply family.

The smell of food cooking, the sound of people talking around the kitchen, the instinct to know when something was ready, and the understanding that Italian food is about much more than what is on the plate. It is about where you come from, who taught you, and who you are cooking for.

What makes Marco’s story particularly unusual is that he never began his career as a chef in a UK restaurant. His cooking developed naturally at home and through the years he spent cooking for friends and family. The kitchen was always part of his life.

Food was something he understood instinctively because he had grown up with it. Before opening Marcus Kitchen & Bar, however, Marco gained valuable experience working in some prestigious London environments, including The Royal Exchange and Skylon Restaurant as an Event Manager. Those experiences gave him an understanding of London hospitality, high standards, service and the professional world surrounding restaurants.

But the foundation of his cooking remained what it had always been: the food of his family.

Marco’s cooking is deeply influenced by his Italian roots. From Naples come the flavours, traditions and character of Southern Italian cooking that he grew up with. From his Sicilian family influences come another layer of Mediterranean flavours, ingredients and recipes.

These traditions are at the heart of Marcus Kitchen & Bar. The aim has never been to create food that simply looks Italian. It is to create food that feels Italian.

Food that reminds you of a family table. Food with history. Food with generosity.

Food made with the same love that Marco experienced growing up. As Marco’s own cooking developed, he continued to respect those traditions while allowing his personality, experience and creativity to become part of every dish.

There is another important chapter in the Marcus story that we never want to forget. Mimmo, our other chef, played a huge part in helping Marco make the transition from an exceptional home cook into someone capable of running a professional restaurant kitchen. Marco already had something that cannot easily be taught:

a lifetime of cooking knowledge, instinct and passion. Mimmo helped him develop another side of that talent understanding how to run a restaurant, how a professional kitchen works and how to turn Marco’s natural cooking skills into a consistent experience for guests. It was a beautiful combination of talents.

Marco brought the recipes, memories, instincts and passion he had carried with him since childhood. Mimmo helped him understand how to bring those skills into the professional restaurant world. Together, they helped shape what Marcus Kitchen & Bar would become.

Today, Marco’s cooking is being recognised far beyond his family kitchen. Marcus Kitchen & Bar has established itself as one of Enfield’s most highly regarded independent Italian restaurants, OpenTable has named Marcus among its Top 100 Restaurants in the UK for 2024. The restaurant went on to win Best Italian Restaurant in the South & East of England at the Italian Awards in 2025, adding an important national recognition to its growing reputation.

Then came an extraordinary double recognition at the Italian Awards 2026. Marco Guarino was named Highly Recommended for Best Chef in the UK, while Marcus Kitchen & Bar was named Highly Recommended for Best Restaurant in London. For a chef whose journey began at six years old in his family kitchen, being recognised among the UK’s leading Italian chefs is an extraordinary achievement.

Marcus Kitchen & Bar’s reputation has also taken the restaurant beyond Enfield. In 2025, The Sun featured Marcus Kitchen & Bar in its national selection of Britain’s best outdoor restaurants, highlighting the restaurant’s Southern Italian food, its awards and its reputation. For a small independent restaurant born from a family passion for food, national recognition like this means a great deal.

Marco’s philosophy is simple:

Respect the ingredients.
Respect the tradition.
Cook with passion…and never forget where you came from.
Every dish carries a part of that journey.

From a little boy cooking at home…
to cooking for friends and family…
to opening Marcus Kitchen & Bar…
to seeing his cooking recognised among the UK’s leading Italian chefs.

This is Marco Guarino.

A chef whose greatest culinary education didn’t begin in a restaurant.

It began at home…

…and it started when he was just six years old.