Cail Bruich chefs are foraging for fresh produce They pick the freshest ingredients for their award-winning grub. From mushrooms to garlic shoots, the lush gardens and embankments of Dear Green Place provide excellent produce for this cosy West End eatery's seasonal menus. We caught up with Chris and fellow Cail Bruich chef Jake Clayton to discuss foraging, fresh produce and fear of fish. So Chris, tell us about foraging? I started foraging about two years ago, but over the past 18 months I really got into it. I find it's a really good way to connect with nature. Going out, picking something, bringing it to the plate. You can see the whole cycle of things from plant to plate and you're keeping things as natural and as local as possible. You can't get any more local than going and picking something from across the road. There's something pretty cool about going and picking your own dinner. What inspired you? I grew up in the city, I've always been a city boy. It was when I went to a restaurant called Noma who are majorly into their foraging, all the chefs pick everything they need for the day before their shift which is pretty amazing to see. I thought 'this is pretty cool, this would work.' What's been great to forage for this year? We put on events once every few months in keeping with the seasons. We did one at the tail end of the plant season and in September we are into mushroom time. When the green dies off and all the plants die and come to seed, that's it until next March or April. You can get a few bits and bobs but the range is limited. The mushroom season is upon us in September - then you're right in the middle of it. The weather wasn't great for mushrooms this September to be honest. It was too warm in the day and really cold at night, as soon as the first frost hits the mushrooms that's them done - over. It was a weird summer. It was lovely for people, but mushrooms love the damp - not too warm, not too cold. How important is using fresh produce for Cail Bruich? Using local produce is the ethos of the restaurant. We buy everything as local as possible. There's loads of good produce in this country. Meats, lamb venison, veal, fish - we live on an island and have some of best fish in world. Where do you get your stock from? We have great suppliers that get it to us. New suppliers come onboard all the time but we have a main core of around eight, we have local guys - there's two on Arran who I've come to know over the years. It's a passion of theirs, they just love it. They just call me up and say "I'm growing this this week, are you interested?" and I take it and make something with it. I've been to the farms, I go over every year October week for a holiday to meet the guys and have that connection. It's easy to pick up the phone and just speak to a voice without a face to it, but these guys are giving their lives to grow, pick this stuff and then deliver it. What's your signature dish? I've done a lot of dishes over the years, I'm quite young still, so I haven't found my signature dish that i think "that's it, that can't be changed or improved" yet. I love cooking fish. We live on an island and yet some people are scared of fish for some strange reason. Perhaps they had a bad experience of their mums over-boiling the potatoes and over-cooking fish, I don't know. People seem to be wary of it, which is a shame because it's so healthy for you and there's loads of it. Jake, what's your experience of using Scottish local produce? When I first moved up from London, Cail Bruich was one of the only restaurants I found in Glasgow that used local produce. That seemed obvious in London but hardly anyone used it up here. In London we were using a lot of Scottish seafood, shellfish etc that doesn't get used enough up here. I love using game, it's a diverse meat to use, and using unusual ingredients like chocolate in sauces and bitter berries. People like the slow cooked stuff they are less used to eating - a cheek, or ox. It's that kind of home-cooking too, hearty food people can relate to it, it reminds them of their childhood.