Who hasn't looked at the silverbeet flourishing in the vegetable patch wondering how on Earth they're going to serve it again tomorrow night? Who isn't just a little sick of broccolini? Who's already got carried away and planted all those spring seedlings, so what if there are nine different types of lettuce already in the patch, one more won't hurt, surely? We'll be able to eat them all. But sometimes we don't want to.

Which is why Judy Bamberger and Bram Van Oosterhout contacted Clement Chauvin, executive chef and owner of Les Bistronomes in Campbell.

It's a long story. Bamberger and Oosterhout are avid home gardeners. So much so that after chatting with Bamberger I rang Susan Parsons and told her she had to contact them for Kitchen Garden.

The artichokes in their own garden had gone to seed but someone on Gumtree was giving some away for free. When Bamberger contacted the seller they had all gone but another grower, Richard Bertoldo, had been in contact with the initial seller and said if anyone else contacts you let them know.

So in a roundabout way, that is so Canberra, Bamberger ended up with four buckets of Bertoldo's Jerusalem artichokes. But they knew they would never eat them all.

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"So I contacted Clement at Les Bistronomes, where we have enjoyed many a lovely meal, and he said he was keen to take some," she said.

And so the Les Bistronomes Green Card was born.

"I don't like to take something for free, so we came up with the idea of the Green Card," says Chauvin.

For anyone that provides the restaurant with a donation of their excess home produce, they get a Green Card in return, which gives them a one-off 10 per cent discount to use at the restaurant when it reopens, or for the take-home dinner packages which are still available.

"As a chef, anyone who gives me vegetables makes me happy," Chauvin says.

So far the artichokes have been turned into a soup, with artichoke crisp on top and are likely to feature on the spring menu soon.

Chauvin said he welcomes any contribution. Already a Campbell neighbour has arrived with a mystery citrus which is a cross between a lime and a mandarin and a bag full of fresh thyme and chives.

"I'd welcome any fruit and vegetable from the weirdest to the most common," he says.

"I believe that dealing with the surprise of not knowing what is coming will add to our creativity to come up with new ideas and recipes that we could try on our very popular Saturday lunch menu."

Chauvin said the idea was another way of strengthening that connection with customers, something which has been vital throughout lockdown. His take-home dinner packs have been extremely popular, and he's been making them, without making a profit once all the bills have been paid, to keep his staff at work and his loyal customers happy.

"It's about supporting the community as much as they're supporting us," he says.

"It looks like we'll be able to open again shortly in some way and at the end of the day we just have to be grateful that we're able to do that."

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