It is 9 A.M. on a sunny weekday morning and Hackney Road in east London is in the grip of a cacophonous rush hour. Tire fitters, office-furniture stores and wholesale handbag shops are opening up for the day. Boarded up Victorian buildings scrawled with graffiti serve as a reminder that this area of London has yet to be completely gentrified. Johnny Willetts, sous chef at Viajante, one of the capital's hottest new restaurants, located in Bethnal Green, walks along.
Passing a modern block of social housing, Mr. Willetts eyes light up. "Look there," he says, pointing to a clump of bright green blink-and-you'll-miss-them leaves in a front garden. "Wood sorrel!" he exclaims, with the excitement of someone who has just unearthed some forgotten treasure. Mr. Willetts unrolls a canvas bag, takes out some nail scissors, sticks his hands through the metal railings and carefully snips away at his bounty, oblivious to the residents' bemused looks.
Each morning, Mr. Willetts cycles from his home nearby, stopping off along the way to pick vegetation such as honeysuckle, borage, sweet violets, horehound and meadowsweet, which will end up on one of the dishes at the restaurant later that day. As well as a herb garden planted at the restaurant, with varieties such as caraway, anise and chervil, these Hackney front yards and parks serve as Viajante's other "garden." Increasingly, more chefs are seeking to utilize produce found on their doorsteps in a bid to be truly local, and to cut down on food miles.
In Haggerston Park, down the road from the sorrel patch, Mr. Willetts pounces upon rambling elderflower. He snips off the smaller heads of flowers. These will form part of a new dish: pork with rye bread, langoustines and elderflower. Next to Hackney City Farm, Mr. Willetts chances across some chickweed. This will go on top of beetroot crostini. White horehound flowers end up garnishing a dish of razor clams. Many of the edible finds will end up on the Spring Garden dish, which comprises 10 to 15 different flowers and herbs, and evolves daily, depending on what Mr. Willetts and the other chefs from Viajante find on their morning foraging trips.
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