Food & Drink

The message had finally come. I was to meet my contact the next day beneath the clock in the centre of the station at 11am and hand over the package. 'How will I know it's him?' I ask. He'll be carrying a motorbike helmet, I'm told, and he won't have time to wait around.

I arrive half an hour early, and scope the rendezvous. At 11 precisely, a scowling man strides through the crowd carrying a black crash helmet. I approach with the package. We exchange brief nods, no words, he takes the package, and we part. I never even learn the man's name, but that's how it goes in the high-stakes world of walnut foraging.

A few days earlier I had mentioned to René Redzepi, the 33-year-old co-owner and head chef of Copenhagen restaurant Noma (the current no 1 in the San Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants in the World list), that I knew the whereabouts of four fully laden walnut trees, an hour from the Danish capital.

I've kept in touch with René since eating at Noma soon after it opened in 2003, interviewed him a couple of times since, and watched him build a reputation for, among other things, sourcing sustainable produce exclusively from Denmark and the Nordic region, so I knew the walnuts would excite him as much as they had me. 'I'd love some,' he said. 'I've been trying to find walnuts for ages. How many can you bring?' I promised him a few kilos and — being the most in-demand chef in the universe right now — he had arranged for one of his kitchen staff to meet me in Copenhagen station.

Scroll forward a few months and the launch of René's forthcoming book, Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine (£29.95, Phaidon), featuring the story of Noma so far plus 90 original recipes, has given us a better excuse to catch up in person. We are to spend a day visiting some of his favourite food spots in Copenhagen, currently one of the most dynamic food cities in northern Europe.

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