Invasive weed Knotweed served in restaurants as delicacy

A highly invasive weed has become the latest culinary trend to end up on your dinner plate.

Some councils spend thousands of euro trying to get rid of the Japanese plant - knotweed - that grows in the wild in Ireland.

It is a highly invasive fast spreading Japanese weed that can even damage buildings.

But, Damien Grey who is the head chef at the Dublin restaurant, Heron and Grey in Blackrock, has started cooking with it, and has served it raw to customers with duck.

Although, he says he has to be very careful handling the weed, or it could spread anywhere: “if you don’t take extreme caution with it, just the smallest leaf will regenerate itself and it can destroy anything.

“It can grow anywhere and it can break down walls, it can really contaminate the soil that is around and it just keeps going and going.”