Kleo Tabaku, chef patron at Jesmond restaurant Lovage, is working with the local community to obtain the finest ingredients for his customers.
Amateur gardeners and allotment holders are supporting the restaurant by sharing their produce with Kleo, with everything from rhubarb to radishes arriving at the kitchen door from mid-April through to October and November. In return, Kleo – who also owns Osters on Gosforth High Street – ensures they are credited on his menus.
A committed advocate of non-processed ingredients, Kleo works with dairy, fish and meat suppliers in Newcastle and Northumberland to ensure produce is locally sourced, sustainable and seasonal – while the support from local gardeners enables him to serve the freshest salads, fruit and vegetables.
“Quite a few of our customers have allotments,” said Kleo. “They’ll stop by with everything from freshly picked berries to lettuce, brassicas and even the flowers from their broad bean plants – which make the most beautiful, edible garnish.
“They don’t donate large quantities as they tend to grow what they need and I know many of them donate to food charities as well, but I am always very grateful for what they bring me as you can taste the difference.”
Donating items to a top chef can be beneficial to the grower too, as allotment holder John Newlands from South Gosforth discovered.
“I showed Kleo round my plot and was amazed at the things he was interested in,” said John. “I was preparing to dig out some old parsnips that I hadn’t harvested in time, and which would be too woody to eat, but Kleo was more interested in their flowers.
“I was more than happy to let him have them as they would just have gone in the compost bin otherwise – I learnt quite a lot from him.”
Kleo grew up in the small, rural Albanian village of Sheze – approximately 30 miles from the capital, Tirana. His restaurants both use olive oil produced on his family’s farm, and using fruit and vegetables grown by local gardeners reminds him of his childhood, when entire communities relied on what they could grow.
“I was born in a communist system and food was rationed,” said Kleo. “That meant we largely had to live off the land, and consequently we really had to understand how to garden. I am genuinely touched and heartened that local gardeners share their produce with me as I appreciate the care and skill that goes into growing it – and I know our customers are just as appreciative.”
