Discovering the Beaugrenelle hilltop farm

9/30/23, 10:00 AM

Oregano, zaatar, Kenyan basil, Mexican tarragon, tagetes, passion fruit... The rooftop of the Beaugrenelle shopping center in the 15th arrondissement is a veritable world tour of flavors.

It took a great deal of strength and perseverance to get the project off the ground, especially when the health crisis forced restaurant owners to close their doors... Just a few weeks before the first confinement, start-up Wesh Grow and project manager Ilia Blaise planted the very first plants. The company, which believes in urban agriculture, plans to supply its network of Parisian chefs with herbs. The company's repertoire is already well-stocked with top chefs. It supplies them with hydroponically-grown micro-sprouts, from plants installed in an underground parking lot near Saint-Ouen.

Beaugrenelle is Act 2 of an equally bold urban farm. On this 3,000 m2 green roof, no chives or rosemary are planted, only rare species. Those that a chef has spotted on a trip, or those for which no production address is known. Each season, Wesh Grow experiments with 30% of the new varieties that have passed the trials carried out in support of a test plot. It's all about finding the perfect little seed that will thrive in this high-mountain environment. Summers are hot, winters are harsh.

An ambitious, well-thought-out farm

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Thomas Vandenbergue

In the kitchen, the first results are seen as early as May, when the harvest season begins. By 6 a.m., it's cool all the way up in the City of Light. Two or three times a week, four brave souls put their backs to the test to pick up to 1,000 bunches of herbs. Picking lasts until the end of October.

While the perched farm has successfully risen to the challenge of taste, it is also committed to sustainability. The plantations are watered by a rainwater recovery system, a huge 300,000-litre tank hidden in the basement of the shopping center. There's no need to use tap water until at least August, especially as the management of this essential plant resource is optimized by a bed of straw covering the drip irrigation system. A natural trick to prevent evaporation. But that's not all: underneath the fodder, there's another unexpected organic material: spent grains from a brewery north of Paris. Enough to fuel life in this land cultivated under the Parisian sky.

Tom Meyer, Granite restaurant chef

Since spring 2023, chef Tom Meyer has had his own plot of herbs and aromatic plants at the Beaugrenelle perched farm.

How did you obtain this space just for your restaurant on the roof of Beaugrenelle?

Tom Meyer: I was already using Wesh Grow's microgreens. The start-up offered to grow varieties of plants that I couldn't find. For reasons of profitability, growers don't take up certain crops. Yet it's important to stand out through sourcing. I want to offer my customers products they've never eaten before.

Which herbs have you chosen?

T. M.: I asked them to plant petit calament, borlotti beans and honey sage. When I was head of research and development at Maison Pic, I did a lot of work with plants, and I thought these varieties stood out from the crowd.

How do you plan to use them in your cooking?

T. M.: I make a number of flavored oils, as well as ice creams and sorbets. As far as honey sage is concerned, it's a variety that reveals its aromas incredibly well in an infusion. For example, it can be added to a sauce at the last minute before serving, or to a vinaigrette. I haven't come up with any specific recipe ideas yet. I'd like to explore all the culinary dimensions that these different herb varieties can bring.