For the second column in our new restaurant series, Stella’s Room owner and head chef Alex shares the story behind his local business

Stella’s Room is a family restaurant. Aleksandra and myself opened it five years ago. I’m head chef and Aleksandra is director of the company and she is also bar manager.

This is my favourite place because, when I first came to London from Croatia, I lived in Muswell Hill for over two years and settled down. It has stayed in my memory as a beautiful place. We also live on the border of East Finchley, so it was really close to us to manage our lifestyle with our daughter whose name is Stella. She’s also going to school locally. It was a perfect place for us to set up the business.

I’ve been in the catering business for the last 30 years. I was running some Italian restaurants, pubs in the centre of London, being a chef down there. I’ve worked in Italian restaurants, French restaurants, Belgian, pubs – it has been a
long experience.

My lifetime hero is Marco Pierre White, so British food was always my favourite. I don’t think there’s lots of British restaurants around here. You’ve got variations of everything, but not as many British places with traditional British food, which I’m really happy and proud to do. I’m doing everything here from the fridge. I’m not buying in any ingredients, except the raw ones. Then, I’m making my own recipes. Of course, those are traditional but with experience and knowledge I have got, I do that with a touch of mine.

I do my menu seasonally. I’m using – if possible – local ingredients. At the moment, on the menu I have got wild garlic soup and nettle pesto. But, by June, I believe that wild garlic and nettle have gone and it’s time for courgettes and asparagus – I’m thinking of doing some nice asparagus risotto with parmesan cheese.

I’m really happy that I’m part of the community. It feels like being in a small type of village and everybody knows each other. I can say proudly that all the generations come in here on a regular basis, bringing their family. We buy in local beers from Muswell Hillbillies Brewery and we used to buy coffee from Martin’s. We are doing whatever we can to give something back, but also to gain the trust of the people who are coming here.

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