Stella Cafe

Ask Stella’s owner Ronti Hosen what his biggest success is and he’ll tell you it’s his curry. Based on a recipe he learned during a trip back to his native Bangladesh, the South Asian item has since become the foundation of his bar’s dinner menu.

Inside the modest kitchen at Stella, a small west-end locale he took over in 2007, Ronti prepares five different curry dishes from scratch. Seafood lovers can indulge in either the fish or shrimp-and-green-bean curries while meat eaters can choose from the butter chicken or beef curry, all served with a side of rice and dal. There’s also a vegan option in the form of a curry cabbage and eggplant with potato. “Nobody’s gonna get curry like here. Not in Toronto,” says Ronti, describing his culinary style as “all natural.”

Regardless of what’s being served, Ronti prides himself on the freshness of his ingredients, pointing out he doesn’t even have a freezer on hand. But then, why would he? “I don’t freeze up anything,” he says. “I know what I need to cook: heat.”