Island Ingredients, Italian Instincts: A conversation with Executive Chef Luca Gallo, Maradiva
For Luca Gallo, luxury might be a plate of house-made spaghetti with local clams, Rodrigues lemon zest and Mauritian lychee wine. Appointed Executive Chef at Maradiva Villas Resort & Spa in August 2026, the Italian chef is bringing three decades of experience and almost 10 years in Mauritius to the resort’s restaurants.
In this conversation with The Knife, Gallo shares his plans for dining at Maradiva, explains why coconut heart is an ingredient he couldn’t do without, and reveals how his colleagues surprised him with something close to an Italian’s heart: tomato sauce.
You joined Maradiva in August. What convinced you this was the right next move and what excited you most when you first walked into the kitchens?
Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work in very different environments: from family-owned hotels to family-run hotel groups, and then national and international hotel chains.
After 30 years in the industry, I felt it was time to go back to my roots and work again in a family-oriented environment, where having direct contact with the CEO is possible. I have always appreciated this type of management because I find it simpler, more practical and, above all, much faster when it comes to making decisions and implementing changes.
But what really excited me when I arrived at Maradiva was the mindset of the team. I found a young team, open to change, eager to learn and, above all, hungry for new challenges and new inspiration.
I believe finding a team with this kind of energy and openness is quite rare, especially in Mauritius. That willingness to grow, learn and constantly challenge themselves made me feel that I had found the right place for the next chapter of my career.
Before we talk about Maradiva, take us back to the beginning. What first drew you to cooking, and which experience has most shaped the chef you are today?
My first real connection with cooking goes back 32 years. My father was seriously ill and spent more than three months in hospital. At the time, my parents were running a petrol station and working 14 to 15 hours a day. With my father in hospital, my mother and brother simply did not have much time to cook.
That was when I started getting involved in cooking. I would ask my mother for recipes and start preparing simple dishes. And, deep down, I remember telling myself: "Luca, this is your path."
But the experience that shaped me most as the chef I am today was my first two summer seasons, during my school holidays, working in the dishwashing area, or plonge.
That is where I learned one of the most important lessons of my career: if you want to achieve something, you have to be prepared to work hard for it.
I started from the bottom, doing a job that is often overlooked, but it taught me discipline, humility, respect for every position and, above all, the value of hard work. That experience gave me the foundation not only to become a chef, but also to understand that behind every achievement there is commitment, perseverance and a willingness to learn.
When you take over an established culinary operation, where do you begin? What have these first two months been about for you?
When I take over an established operation, my first objective is always to create the right conditions for the team to work well.
My job is to provide my team with the best equipment possible, combined with the best quality ingredients, while at the same time keeping a very close eye on expenses. That was my initial focus: CAPEX, OPEX and the quality of our raw materials.
When it comes to culinary skills, I am actually very happy with what I found. I didn't feel that I needed to come in and change everything. On the contrary, I found a good foundation, and now it is about refining and developing the skills of each member of the team.
As I said before, having a young, motivated and open-minded team is already a very good starting point. My role now is to give them the right tools, direction and inspiration to grow and take their professional skills to the next level.
I last visited Maradiva eight years ago. From your fresh perspective, what should a returning guest discover about the food here today?
Every Executive Chef is different and, naturally, brings his or her own experience, sensitivity and personal signature.
I cannot say exactly what Maradiva was like eight years ago, but I can tell you what I want it to become: a unique culinary destination, offering both local and international guests a genuine journey through Mauritian flavours, different cultures and exceptional products.
At Cassine, I want to showcase the flavours of Mauritius in a contemporary and reinterpreted way, respecting the local identity while presenting it through an elegant and modern cuisine.
At Beach House Grill, lunch will be fresh, light and summery, perfectly suited to the beach atmosphere. In the evening, the concept will evolve into a BBQ experience, with a selection of quality meats and seafood.
At Cilantro, the objective is to offer authentic Indian flavours presented in a modern and refined way, without losing the identity and soul of the cuisine.
At Haiku, our Teppanyaki restaurant, we want to offer a high-level Japanese experience, with exceptional products such as Kobe and Kagoshima beef. Washoku will focus on authentic Japanese cuisine, respecting its philosophy, precision and the quality of its ingredients.
And then we have our Chef's Table, a completely different experience: a fine-dining restaurant where my team and I will have the opportunity to work with some of the finest international products, from caviar and Alba white truffle to foie gras, transforming them into a unique gastronomic experience.
What I want guests to feel when they return to Maradiva is this: not one single style of cuisine, but many different culinary identities, all connected by the same level of quality, attention to detail and passion.
You oversee restaurants with very different culinary identities. How do you set a shared standard while giving each restaurant’s chefs room to express their expertise?
Every restaurant has its own identity, and every chef brings his or her own expertise and personality. My role is not to remove that individuality, but to make sure that we share the same standards when it comes to quality, consistency, discipline and respect for the product.
I want each chef to have the freedom to express their expertise, while knowing that we are all working towards the same objective: creating memorable experiences for our guests.
Have the chefs in your team taught you anything different so far? Perhaps a technique, an ingredient or perhaps a different way of thinking about food?
The beautiful thing about cooking is that you never stop learning, no matter how many years of experience you have.
A simple example is the tomato sauce recipe used by some of my colleagues. It is a preparation I had never seen or used before, and it gives the sauce a completely different flavour and texture from what I was used to. And I have to say, coming from an Italian, that makes it even more special!
This is one of the things I enjoy most about working as a team. Even after 30 years in the industry, you can still discover something new from a colleague, a technique or simply a different way of looking at an ingredient.
Experience teaches you a lot, but curiosity is what allows you to keep growing.
Which local ingredient has particularly caught your imagination, and how are you using it?
After almost 10 years on the island, I have to say there are many local ingredients that have captured my attention.
I would start with the local fish, which have textures and characteristics that are very different from Mediterranean fish and therefore require different approaches and cooking methods.
Then there are the tropical fruits, with flavours and aromas that were completely new to me when I first arrived, and of course the incredible variety of spices and aromatic herbs.
But if I had to choose one product that I could no longer do without, it would definitely be the coconut heart, both raw and cooked. It has a truly unique texture and a delicate sweetness that offers so many creative possibilities. I like to play with it and pair it with very different products, from freshwater prawns to crab, and even something completely different such as winter black truffle.
For me, it is a unique product. It is deeply connected to the island, but at the same time it can work beautifully with exceptional international ingredients.
The resort has its own kitchen garden. Can you walk me through a dish that starts there and how much does the daily harvest influence what you cook?
At this particular moment, our garden is giving us a beautiful selection of different, fresh aromatic herbs, which we use every day in our kitchens. For me, the chef's garden should not simply be a decorative element of the resort. It should be a real extension of the kitchen.
Being able to pick an aromatic herb directly from the garden and use it in a dish just a few minutes later gives you a level of freshness and intensity that is completely different. The daily harvest therefore influences the way I think about cooking. I don't want the kitchen to always decide what should be grown. I also like the idea that nature, through what the garden offers us at that particular moment, can suggest how we finish and characterise a dish.
It is a very simple approach, but I believe it represents the philosophy I want to develop at Maradiva: respect seasonality, highlight local produce and let the ingredients guide the chef's creativity.
Guests arrive with very different tastes and expectations. How do you encourage them to explore different flavours while still giving them the comfort and familiarity they might want on holiday?
From a practical point of view, I regularly speak with our Sales Team, because it is important for me to understand the nationalities of our guests and their different habits and expectations when it comes to food.
Then there is the more personal side, which is what I enjoy most: I like to take something the guest already knows – a technique, a cooking method or a dish – and give it a local touch. This way, I am not putting something completely unfamiliar in front of them. Instead, I am giving them the opportunity to discover the flavours of Mauritius starting from something they already recognise.
A very simple example is our Salmis of braised beef cheek. Braising is a technique known all over the world, and the concept of the dish is easy to understand, but then we add our Mauritian touch – the character of a traditional Salmis – which completely changes the profile of the dish.
That is how I like to work: give the guest something familiar, but with a surprise that allows them to discover something new.
What does luxury on the plate mean to you personally?
For me, luxury on the plate comes down to three things: simplicity, taste and the search for the best ingredients.
I don't believe a luxury dish necessarily needs to be complicated or have many elements. True luxury is finding an exceptional ingredient, understanding it, respecting it and being able to bring out its flavour through a simple and precise preparation.
The search for the right product is therefore fundamental: finding the best ingredient possible, respecting its seasonality and its quality.
When the ingredient is exceptional, the chef's job is to enhance it, not to hide it.
What’s one change guests can already taste since you arrived, and one idea you’re still developing?
One of the areas I have been focusing on most is the research and selection of our products. For me, it is not enough to find an excellent ingredient once. What is important is to have consistent quality, consistent condition and texture upon delivery, and, above all, consistency in flavour.
When a guest orders a dish today and comes back a week later, I want them to experience the same quality, the same taste and the same overall experience.
It is work that the guest may not see directly, but they can certainly feel it on the plate. I believe that this constant search for consistency and quality in our ingredients is one of the fundamental foundations of a high-level kitchen.
If I return a year from now, what would you hope I notice and which dish would you want to cook for me?
If you came back in a year, I would want you to notice above all the consistency, texture and quality of every single dish you order.
For me, that would be the most important sign that the work we are doing has delivered results: not simply creating interesting dishes, but being able to guarantee the same experience, the same flavour and the same level of quality every time.
And if I were to cook a dish for you personally, I would choose something simple, but something that represents my philosophy very well: house-made spaghetti with local clams, finished with Rodrigues Island lemon zest and a sauce deglazed with Takamaka, a Mauritian wine made from lychee maceration.
It is a seemingly simple dish, but it brings together products that are deeply connected to our region with a personal touch.
Because ultimately, for me, true luxury is exactly that: great ingredients, treated with respect and transformed into something simple, elegant and full of flavour.
